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Was just going to post something similar.
Sparkplug manufacturers select materials for their products based a few different factors. Thermal and electrical conductivity are two of them. For performance/racing engines in which we we may be willing to replace sparkplugs more frequently, these are important. There's also corrosion resistance for a long lasting sparkplug.
Copper conducts electricity well, but doesn't resist corrosion that well, and it melts at a low temperature.
Nickel and platinum do all three decently.
Iridium does OK too, but is very resistant to corrosion. Makes a great 100,000 mile plug. Not necessarily the best for performance though.
Silver does all three well. It's expensive, probably why only premium sparkplugs use it.
Has anyone done back to back dyno runs with different plugs to determine actual performance advantage?
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