Technical Data
When you take a closer look at electrical wiring, you quickly notice that there is a wide range of materials used. Wire types offer designers and engineers varying performance characteristics, so deciding how electronics perform matters. Below, we want to highlight a few of the most used types of wires and the applications they work best within.
Braided Wires – these wires consist of multiple small strands that get braided together. These wires are like stranded wires; however, braided wires do better at conducting electricity. Because wires are braided together, the material has extra strength when being flexed. The ideal application of these wires is to create EMI shielding.
Stranded Wires – these wires contain multiple small wires that are either wrapped or bundled together. These wires are flexible and have a high resistance to metal fatigue (when compared to a solid wire). These wires are often found making up circuit board connections. Stranded Wire also is used in AC line cords, welding electrode cables, and musical instrument cables.
Solid Wires – these wires are also called single-strand wires and solid-core wires. They get their name because the wire is made from a single, solid piece of metal. Solid wires are usually found in protective sheaths. Engineers use these wires for circuit breadboard wiring. The wire is affordable, while not suffering from corrosion (because of small surface areas exposed to environments).