What is AWG
American wire gauge (AWG), also known as the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge, is a logarithmic stepped standardized wire gauge system used since 1857, predominantly in North America, for the diameters of round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire. Dimensions of the wires are given in ASTM standard B 258.[1] The cross-sectional area of each gauge is an important factor for determining its current-carrying ampacity.
Increasing gauge numbers denote decreasing wire diameters, which is similar to many other non-metric gauging systems such as British Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), but unlike IEC 60228, the metric wire-size standard used in most parts of the world. This gauge system originated in the number of drawing operations used to produce a given gauge of wire. Very fine wire (for example, 30 gauge) required more passes through the drawing dies than 0 gauge wire did. Manufacturers of wire formerly had proprietary wire gauge systems; the development of standardized wire gauges rationalized selection of wire for a particular purpose.
The AWG tables are for a single, solid, round conductor. The AWG of a stranded wire is determined by the cross-sectional area of the equivalent solid conductor. Because there are also small gaps between the strands, a stranded wire will always have a slightly larger overall diameter than a solid wire with the same AWG.
The table below shows various data including both the resistance of the various wire gauges and the allowable current (ampacity) based on a copper conductor with plastic insulation. The diameter information in the table applies to solid wires. Stranded wires are calculated by calculating the equivalent cross sectional copper area. Fusing current (melting wire) is estimated based on 25 °C (77 °F) ambient temperature. The table below assumes DC, or AC frequencies equal to or less than 60 Hz, and does not take skin effect into account. "Turns of wire per unit length" is the reciprocal of the conductor diameter; it is therefore an upper limit for wire wound in the form of a helix (see solenoid), based on uninsulated wire.
| AWG | Diameter | Turns of wire, without insulation | Area | Copper wire | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resistance/length[7] | Ampacity,[8] at 20 °C insulation material temperature rating, or for single unbundled wires in equipment for 16 AWG and smaller[9] | Fusing current[10][11] | ||||||||||||
| 60 °C | 75 °C | 90 °C | Preece[12][13][14][15] | Onderdonk[16][15] | ||||||||||
| (in) | (mm) | (per in) | (per cm) | (kcmil) | (mm2) | (mΩ/m[a]) | (mΩ/ft[b]) | (A) | ~10 s | 1 s | 32 ms | |||
| 0000 (4/0) | 0.4600[c] | 11.684[c] | 2.17 | 0.856 | 212 | 107 | 0.1608 | 0.04901 | 195 | 230 | 260 | 3.2 kA | 33 kA | 182 kA |
| 000 (3/0) | 0.4096 | 10.405 | 2.44 | 0.961 | 168 | 85.0 | 0.2028 | 0.06180 | 165 | 200 | 225 | 2.7 kA | 26 kA | 144 kA |
| 00 (2/0) | 0.3648 | 9.266 | 2.74 | 1.08 | 133 | 67.4 | 0.2557 | 0.07793 | 145 | 175 | 195 | 2.3 kA | 21 kA | 115 kA |
| 0 (1/0) | 0.3249 | 8.251 | 3.08 | 1.21 | 106 | 53.5 | 0.3224 | 0.09827 | 125 | 150 | 170 | 1.9 kA | 16 kA | 91 kA |
| 1 | 0.2893 | 7.348 | 3.46 | 1.36 | 83.7 | 42.4 | 0.4066 | 0.1239 | 110 | 130 | 145 | 1.6 kA | 13 kA | 72 kA |
| 2 | 0.2576 | 6.544 | 3.88 | 1.53 | 66.4 | 33.6 | 0.5127 | 0.1563 | 95 | 115 | 130 | 1.3 kA | 10.2 kA | 57 kA |
| 3 | 0.2294 | 5.827 | 4.36 | 1.72 | 52.6 | 26.7 | 0.6465 | 0.1970 | 85 | 100 | 115 | 1.1 kA | 8.1 kA | 45 kA |
| 4 | 0.2043 | 5.189 | 4.89 | 1.93 | 41.7 | 21.2 | 0.8152 | 0.2485 | 70 | 85 | 95 | 946 A | 6.4 kA | 36 kA |
| 5 | 0.1819 | 4.621 | 5.50 | 2.16 | 33.1 | 16.8 | 1.028 | 0.3133 | 795 A | 5.1 kA | 28 kA | |||
| 6 | 0.1620 | 4.115 | 6.17 | 2.43 | 26.3 | 13.3 | 1.296 | 0.3951 | 55 | 65 | 75 | 668 A | 4.0 kA | 23 kA |
| 7 | 0.1443 | 3.665 | 6.93 | 2.73 | 20.8 | 10.5 | 1.634 | 0.4982 | 561 A | 3.2 kA | 18 kA | |||
| 8 | 0.1285 | 3.264 | 7.78 | 3.06 | 16.5 | 8.37 | 2.061 | 0.6282 | 40 | 50 | 55 | 472 A | 2.5 kA | 14 kA |
| 9 | 0.1144 | 2.906 | 8.74 | 3.44 | 13.1 | 6.63 | 2.599 | 0.7921 | 396 A | 2.0 kA | 11 kA | |||
| 10 | 0.1019 | 2.588 | 9.81 | 3.86 | 10.4 | 5.26 | 3.277 | 0.9989 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 333 A | 1.6 kA | 8.9 kA |
| 11 | 0.0907 | 2.305 | 11.0 | 4.34 | 8.23 | 4.17 | 4.132 | 1.260 | 280 A | 1.3 kA | 7.1 kA | |||
| 12 | 0.0808 | 2.053 | 12.4 | 4.87 | 6.53 | 3.31 | 5.211 | 1.588 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 235 A | 1.0 kA | 5.6 kA |
| 13 | 0.0720 | 1.828 | 13.9 | 5.47 | 5.18 | 2.62 | 6.571 | 2.003 | 198 A | 798 A | 4.5 kA | |||
| 14 | 0.0641 | 1.628 | 15.6 | 6.14 | 4.11 | 2.08 | 8.286 | 2.525 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 166 A | 633 A | 3.5 kA |
| 15 | 0.0571 | 1.450 | 17.5 | 6.90 | 3.26 | 1.65 | 10.45 | 3.184 | 140 A | 502 A | 2.8 kA | |||
| 16 | 0.0508 | 1.291 | 19.7 | 7.75 | 2.58 | 1.31 | 13.17 | 4.016 | 18 | 117 A | 398 A | 2.2 kA | ||
| 17 | 0.0453 | 1.150 | 22.1 | 8.70 | 2.05 | 1.04 | 16.61 | 5.064 | 99 A | 316 A | 1.8 kA | |||
| 18 | 0.0403 | 1.024 | 24.8 | 9.77 | 1.62 | 0.823 | 20.95 | 6.385 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 83 A | 250 A | 1.4 kA |
| 19 | 0.0359 | 0.912 | 27.9 | 11.0 | 1.29 | 0.653 | 26.42 | 8.051 | — | — | — | 70 A | 198 A | 1.1 kA |
| 20 | 0.0320 | 0.812 | 31.3 | 12.3 | 1.02 | 0.518 | 33.31 | 10.15 | 5 | 11 | — | 58.5 A | 158 A | 882 A |
| 21 | 0.0285 | 0.723 | 35.1 | 13.8 | 0.810 | 0.410 | 42.00 | 12.80 | — | — | — | 49 A | 125 A | 700 A |
| 22 | 0.0253 | 0.644 | 39.5 | 15.5 | 0.642 | 0.326 | 52.96 | 16.14 | 5 | 7 | — | 41 A | 99 A | 551 A |
| 23 | 0.0226 | 0.573 | 44.3 | 17.4 | 0.509 | 0.258 | 66.79 | 20.36 | — | — | — | 35 A | 79 A | 440 A |
| 24 | 0.0201 | 0.511 | 49.7 | 19.6 | 0.404 | 0.205 | 84.22 | 25.67 | 2.1 | 3.5 | — | 29 A | 62 A | 348 A |
| 25 | 0.0179 | 0.455 | 55.9 | 22.0 | 0.320 | 0.162 | 106.2 | 32.37 | — | — | — | 24 A | 49 A | 276 A |
| 26 | 0.0159 | 0.405 | 62.7 | 24.7 | 0.254 | 0.129 | 133.9 | 40.81 | 1.3 | 2.2 | — | 20 A | 39 A | 218 A |
| 27 | 0.0142 | 0.361 | 70.4 | 27.7 | 0.202 | 0.102 | 168.9 | 51.47 | — | — | — | 17 A | 31 A | 174 A |
| 28 | 0.0126 | 0.321 | 79.1 | 31.1 | 0.160 | 0.0810 | 212.9 | 64.90 | 0.83 | 1.4 | — | 14 A | 24 A | 137 A |
| 29 | 0.0113 | 0.286 | 88.8 | 35.0 | 0.127 | 0.0642 | 268.5 | 81.84 | — | — | — | 12 A | 20 A | 110 A |
| 30 | 0.0100 | 0.255 | 99.7 | 39.3 | 0.101 | 0.0509 | 338.6 | 103.2 | 0.52 | 0.86 | — | 10 A | 15 A | 86 A |
| 31 | 0.00893 | 0.227 | 112 | 44.1 | 0.0797 | 0.0404 | 426.9 | 130.1 | — | — | — | 9 A | 12 A | 69 A |
| 32 | 0.00795 | 0.202 | 126 | 49.5 | 0.0632 | 0.0320 | 538.3 | 164.1 | 0.32 | 0.53 | — | 7 A | 10 A | 54 A |
| 33 | 0.00708 | 0.180 | 141 | 55.6 | 0.0501 | 0.0254 | 678.8 | 206.9 | — | — | — | 6 A | 7.7 A | 43 A |
| 34 | 0.00630 | 0.160 | 159 | 62.4 | 0.0398 | 0.0201 | 856.0 | 260.9 | 0.18 | 0.3 | — | 5 A | 6.1 A | 34 A |
| 35 | 0.00561 | 0.143 | 178 | 70.1 | 0.0315 | 0.0160 | 1079 | 329.0 | — | — | — | 4 A | 4.8 A | 27 A |
| 36 | 0.00500[c] | 0.127[c] | 200 | 78.7 | 0.0250 | 0.0127 | 1361 | 414.8 | — | — | — | 4 A | 3.9 A | 22 A |
| 37 | 0.00445 | 0.113 | 225 | 88.4 | 0.0198 | 0.0100 | 1716 | 523.1 | — | — | — | 3 A | 3.1 A | 17 A |
| 38 | 0.00397 | 0.101 | 252 | 99.3 | 0.0157 | 0.00797 | 2164 | 659.6 | — | — | — | 3 A | 2.4 A | 14 A |
| 39 | 0.00353 | 0.0897 | 283 | 111 | 0.0125 | 0.00632 | 2729 | 831.8 | — | — | — | 2 A | 1.9 A | 11 A |
| 40 | 0.00314 | 0.0799 | 318 | 125 | 0.00989 | 0.00501 | 3441 | 1049 | — | — | — | 1 A | 1.5 A | 8.5 A |
AWG gauges are also used to describe stranded wire. The AWG gauge of a stranded wire represents the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the individual strands; the gaps between strands are not counted. When made with circular strands, these gaps occupy about 25% of the wire area, thus requiring the overall bundle diameter to be about 13% larger than a solid wire of equal gauge.
Stranded wires are specified with three numbers, the overall AWG size, the number of strands, and the AWG size of a strand. The number of strands and the AWG of a strand are separated by a slash. For example, a 22 AWG 7/30 stranded wire is a 22 AWG wire made from seven strands of 30 AWG wire.
content source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge