American Wire Gauge

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American Wire Gauge , AWG for short , also known as Brown & Sharpe wire gauge in English-speaking countries , is a coding for wire diameters and is mainly used in North America. In the context of the internationalization of the manufacture of technical products that is associated with globalization , coding is an issue in numerous other industrialized countries . It identifies electrical lines made of stranded wire and solid wire and is mainly used in electrical engineering to denote the cross-section of wires . The system was introduced in 1857 by Joseph Rogers Brown (1810–1876) at Brown & Sharpe .

Derivation

The American Wire Gauge system is based on the manufacturing process of wires and expresses the number of drawing steps of the wire. Because ( copper ) wire solidifies during drawing, there is a risk of tearing above a limit value. Therefore, the amount of pulling is limited. The wire can only be drawn further after heat treatment ( soft annealing ). With every pull - while the volume remains the same - the wire becomes thinner and longer.

The diameters are specified for two stages:

size diameter
Inch (Inch ") mm
0000 AWG
(4/0 AWG)		 0.460 11.680
36 AWG 0.005 00.127

The ASTM B 258-02 standard defines the diameter ratio of consecutive AWG sizes as:

The formula for calculating the diameter from the AWG number a can be derived from this:

or.

The standard specifies that the diameters in the tables should not contain more than four significant digits in relation to the unit inch . The resolution should be 0.1  mil for 44 AWG and 0.01 mil for 45 AWG in ascending order.

The AWG number a is calculated from the diameter by:

Negative AWG values ​​are also possible, written as 00 AWG, 000 AWG and 0000 AWG (0.46 ″).

Multi-stranded and finely stranded cables ( strands ) have an overall diameter that is 13% to 14% larger due to the cavities between the adjacent (round) individual wires.

Table for AWG wires (solid conductors)

The following table shows the conversion to length units using the above formula .
(1 inch = 25.4 mm; 1  kcmil = 0.5067 mm²)

The specific resistance of copper was assumed to be 0.0178 Ω mm² / m.

Preferred sizes are highlighted. The cross-sections given as equivalent are the replacement types recommended by European manufacturers in the usual metric increments.

AWG diameter cross-section R
(Ω / km) 		Metric

Equivalent (mm²)

SWG BWG

(Stubs)

W&M
inch mm kcmil mm²
0000 (4/0) 0.460 11.68 212 107.2 0.166 120
000 (3/0) 0.410 10.40 168 85.01 0.209 95
00 (2/0) 0.365 9.266 133 67.43 0.264 70
0 (1/0) 0.325 8.25 106 53.49 0.333
1 0.289 7.35 83.7 42.40 0.42 50
2 0.258 6.54 66.4 33.62 0.529 35
3 0.229 5.83 52.6 26.67 0.667
4th 0.204 5.19 41.7 21.15 0.842 25th
5 0.182 4.62 33.1 16.75 1.06
6th 0.162 4.11 26.2 13.30 1.34 16 8th
7th 0.144 3.67 20.8 10.55 1.69 9
8th 0.128 3.26 16.5 8.37 2.13 10 10
9 0.114 2.91 6.63 2.68
10 0.102 2.59 10.4 5.26 3.38 6th
11 0.0907 2.30 4.17 4.27
12 0.0808 2.05 6.53 3.31 5.38 4th 14th 14th
13 0.0720 1.83 2.62 6.78 15th 15th 15th
14th 0.0641 1.63 4.11 2.08 8.55 2.5 16
15th 0.0571 1.45 1.65 10.8
16 0.0508 1.29 2.58 1.31 13.6 1.5
17th 0.0453 1.15 1.038 17.1
18th 0.0403 1.024 1.62 0.823 21.6 1 19th
19th 0.0359 0.912 0.653 27.3 0.75 20th
20th 0.0320 0.812 1.02 0.518 34.4 0.75 21st
21st 0.0285 0.723 0.410 43.4 0.5 22nd 22nd 22nd
22nd 0.0254 0.644 0.64 0.326 54.7 0.34 23
23 0.0226 0.573 0.258 68.9
24 0.0201 0.511 0.404 0.205 86.9 0.25 25th 25th 25th
25th 0.0179 0.455 0.162 110 26th 26th 26th
26th 0.0159 0.405 0.129 138 0.14 27
27 0.0142 0.361 0.102 174 28
28 0.0126 0.321 0.0810 220 0.09
29 0.0113 0.286 0.0642 277
30th 0.0100 0.255 0.0510 349 33 31
31 0.00893 0.227 0.0404 441 32 36
32 0.00795 0.202 0.0320 556 33 38
33 0.00708 0.180 0.0254 701 34 40
34 0.00631 0.160 0.0201 884 42
35 0.00562 0.143 0.0160 1114 45
36 0.00500 0.127 0.0127 1405 35 47
37 0.00445 0.113 0.0100 1772 41 50
38 0.00396 0.101 0.00797 2234 42 36
39 0.00353 0.0897 0.00632 2818 43
40 0.00315 0.0799 0.00501 3552 44
41 0.00280 0.0711 0.00397 4481 45
42 0.00249 0.0632 0.00314 5666
43 0.00222 0.0564 0.00250 7128
44 0.00197 0.0500 0.00197 9052 47
45 0.00176 0.0447 0.00157 11341
46 0.00157 0.0399 0.00125 14252 48
47 0.00140 0.0355 0.00099 18022
48 0.00124 0.0316 0.00078 22726
49 0.00111 0.0281 0.00062 28657
50 0.00099 0.0250 0.00049 36137 50

Composition of stranded conductors

In the composition of multi-stranded conductors such as stranded wires , the electrical properties of the same AWG nominal sizes can differ considerably from one another and do not correspond to the above information for single-stranded conductors (solid wires). For example, the electrically effective cross-sections of stranded wire with the same AWG number are not the same as those of solid wire.

The structure of common stranded and fine-stranded conductors of the AWG system is shown in the following tables. Other compositions not listed here are possible.

Size AWG 36 34 32 30th 28 27 26th 24 22nd 20th


Number of single wires × AWG 		7 × 44 7 × 42 7 × 40
19 × 44 		7 × 38
19 × 42 		7 × 36
19 × 40 		7 × 35 7 × 34
10 × 36
19 × 38 		7 × 32
10 × 34
19 × 36
41 × 40 		7 × 30
19 × 34
26 × 36 		7 × 28
10 × 30
19 × 32
26 × 34
41 × 36
Size AWG 18th 16 14th 12 10 8th 6th 4th 2 1


Number of single wires × AWG 		7 × 26
16 × 30
19 × 32
41 × 34
65 × 36 		7 × 24
19 × 28
26 × 30
65 × 34
105 × 36 		7 × 22
19 × 27
41 × 30
105 × 34 		7 × 20
19 × 26
60 × 30
165 × 34 		37 × 26
49 × 27
105 × 30 		49 × 25
133 × 29
655 × 36 		133 × 27
259 × 30
1050 × 36 		133 × 25
259 × 27
1666 × 36 		133 × 23
259 × 26
655 × 30
2646 × 36 		133 × 22
259 × 25
817 × 30
2109 × 34
Examples
designation Single wires cross-section
number size
14 AWG 7/22 7 (stranded) 22 AWG 2.28 mm²
14 AWG 41/30 41 (fine wire) 30 AWG 2.09 mm²

Derived Applications

The designation of the AWG size (e.g. AWG 32) is required in wire wrap technology to determine the winding insert.

Even with many electronic plug-in connectors , the wire diameter is preferably specified in AWG. Compliance is particularly important with insulation displacement connectors.

criticism

The AWG system is based on a manufacturing process that existed at the time of development. It is unimportant for the user to know how often a wire is pulled; only the dimensions are interesting. AWG negates technological developments as well as future material science findings. The wire codings for wire drawing practice from the 1800s were introduced to meet the needs of users and are still in use in many countries today.

The USA in particular is ignoring the fact that it joined the Meter Convention in 1878 and is sticking to the AWG system. As a concession, only imperial units are converted into metric units. As a result, European manufacturers of electrical cables , connectors and crimp contacts , for example , are forced to manufacture special versions for the US market and adapt their product range accordingly.

For AWG stranded conductors, it is not sufficient to state the total size. Depending on the structure and manufacturer, there may be considerable deviations in the electrical properties, so the manufacturer's data sheet is required for realistic calculations.

Other wire codes

Internationally, cables are standardized according to the cross section of IEC 60228 .

In addition to the American Wire Gauge, there are Imperial Standard Wire Gauge (ISWG), also simply called Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), and Birmingham Wire Gauge (BWG), also called Stubs' Wire Gauge , which are also identified by a numerical code. Another wire coding is that of Washburn & Moen (W&M).

A separate coding, the drill wire gauge , is also still in use in Anglo-American countries for the starting material for drills . The range includes the range from # 107 with 0.0483 mm as the smallest to #Z with 10.4902 mm as the largest steel wire diameter.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ASTM Standard B 258-02, page 4