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Glossary » Materials » Alloys » Copper Alloy » Wire » AWG-18

AWG-18 is a Round Copper Wire grade Wire Copper Alloy. Other designations of AWG-18 copper alloy include ASTM B1, ASTM B3, and ASTM B258.

Copper is one of the most useful metals known to man, and it was one of the first to be utilized. Copper is a reddish-yellow material and is extremely ductile. Copper has a face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystal structure and has the second best electrical conductivity of the metals, second only to silver compared to which it has a conductivity of 97%. The thermal conductivity of copper is very high, falling in between silver and gold. There are almost 400 different copper alloys depending on the commercial product made; rods, plates, sheets, strips, tubes, pipes, extrusions, foils, forgings, wires, and castings from foundries.

The typical elastic modulus of copper alloys at room temperature (25°C) is about 117 GPa. The typical density of copper alloys ranges from 8.8 to 8.94 g/cm³. The typical tensile strength varies between 172 and 220 MPa. The wide range of ultimate tensile strength is largely due to different heat treatment conditions.