There is much more to electroplating and anodization that what you learn in one day elementary chemistry....
If the current would only be carried through the plating surface (plating) the resistance and current handling capabilities would be AWFUL...
The plating is so thin that it is mainly for LOOKS. You are talking microns…
I am not going to get into the chemistry and physics, but if the current would be handled only by the plating, you could only support milliamps, not currents in excess of 50A.
The most important thing with solder bars is the connection from the bar to the battery.
You can have solid GOLD BARS but if the solder joint is bad, the advantages of the GOLD would be wasted...
There IS NO DIFFERENCE between ANY OF THE GOOD BARS OUT THERE.
I sell bars and I AM NOT PROMOTING OUR BARS...
Just buy any good solder bar and USE GOOD SOLDER AND SOLDERING TECHNIQUES.
How many of you have actually measured the voltage drop across the bar...That alone will tell you which bar is the BEST ONE.
If you have two batteries that you can throw away do this test:
Take two batteries, connect the two of them with one battery bar and then use a 0.01 ohm resistor to close the ciorcuit, then measure the voltage across the battery bar. Assuming that you have 2.4 volts, the bar would have 24 AMPS flowing across it. Divide the voltage drop by the current and that will give you an aproximation of the bar' resistance.
As long as your solder connection is done the RIGHT WAY, there is MINIMAL DIFFERENCE. You develop a larger voltage drop across the battery/solder bar connection than across the entire solder bar.
And BTW, there are more chances of corrosion due to the use of ROSIN FLUX than from anything else in the bars. ROSIN RETAINS WATER and in humid places the accumulation of condensation creates a corrosive environment.
IMO