Kanthal Wire Types ?

[danliddle]

Noticed you can get different types of Kanthal and curious whats the difference does it all come to taste vapour or low resistance ? 

[Die5el]

Kanthal is an alloy composed mainly of Iron, Chromium and Aluminum. The main difference between the composition of the different grades of Kanthal is the percentage of Aluminum.

Kanthal A-1 has 5.8% Aluminum
Kanthal A has 5.3% Aluminum
Kanthal D has 4.8% Aluminum

All grades have Chromium in the range of 20.5% to 23.5%.

The remaining 70% - 75% is made of Iron.

In my opinion, there should be no (or not very much) difference (in regards to vaping) between the different grades of Kanthal than the slightly different resistances (see the table below).
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Nichrome comes in various compostions. The main components are Nickel and Chromium.

Jacobs Online carries Nichrome 60 (also called Chromel C). This is composed of 60% Nickel, 16% Chromium and 24% Iron.

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PnJ Resources carries Nichrome 80. This is composed of 80% Nickel and 20% Chromium

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At the temperatures we vape at, there should be no metallic vapors given off by these wires due to heat.
It has been stated by a number of ECF members that Kanthal (A-1) gives a cleaner tasting vape than Nichrome and that Kanthal (A-1) is a stronger more robust wire than Nichrome.
With either material, a thicker wire (smaller awg #) will, most likely, have a longer lifespan than a thinner wire.
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Resistance in Ohms/inch for the Resistance Wires

Kanthal Grade----- A-1 ------ A -------- D ----- Nichrome 60 -------- Nichrome 80

30 awg (?/in)----- 0.7 ------ 0.7 ------ 0.7 -------- 0.6 -------- -------- 0.5
31 awg (?/in)----- 0.9 ------ 0.9 ------ 0.8
32 awg (?/in)----- 1.2 ------ 1.1 ------ 1.1 -------- 0.9 -------- -------- 0.9
33 awg (?/in)----- 1.4 ------ 1.4 ------ 1.3
34 awg (?/in)----- 1.8 ------ 1.8 ------ 1.7 -------- 1.4 -------- -------- 1.4
35 awg (?/in)----- 2.3 ------ 2.2 ------ 2.1
36 awg (?/in)----- 2.9 ------ 2.8 ------ 2.7 -------- 2.3 -------- -------- 2.1

Spreadsheet calculations for the resistances

ETA: These ohms/inch numbers are a close average. Due to small variations in wire thickness, if you cut a one inch piece of wire, the resistance may be +/- 0.1 or so ohms from the numbers in the table above.

btw i borrowed this from ecf

[danliddle]

Thanks mate so whats It mean when you see Ribbon Wire and Twisted wire ?

[jmw2309]

Ribbon wire I believe is flattened kanthal which I have not used.

Twisted is 2 or more strands of kanthal twisted together, usually with a drill. Twisting two pieces of the same gauge kanthal together will give a greater surface area to heat up but will half the end resistance.

[arron]

Feb 10, 2015 10:08:46 GMT danliddle said:

Thanks mate so whats It mean when you see Ribbon Wire and Twisted wire ?

Ribbon wire is flat kanthal and twisted is 2 strands of standard round kanthal that is twisted together.

Different surface area/textures are used to tailor a vape

[monty]

A little point of information. As has been said here before, Kanthal was originally a trade name which has become a generic name. But a trade name for what? Well an alloy that is mainly iron and about 20% chromium with a little of some other metal(s) is stainless steel. And that's what Kanthal is - a stainless steel with a high electrical resistance.