ASTM B559-93(2002)e1

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e1
Designation: B 559 – 93 (Reapproved 2002)
Standard Specification for
Nickel-Coated, Copper-Clad Steel Wire for Electronic
Application
This standard is issued under the fixed designation B 559; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision.Anumber in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.
e NOTE—A cautionary note was moved into the section text editorially October 2002.
1. Scope 2. Referenced Documents
1.1 This specification covers nickel-coated, round, copper- 2.1 The following documents of the issue in effect on date
clad steel wire for electronic application. of material purchase form a part of this specification to the
1.2 Nickel coatings in mass percentages of the total mass of extent referenced herein:
the coated wire are as follows: 2, 4, 7, 10, and 27%. 2.2 ASTM Standards:
Nickel-coated wire having different minimum mass percent- B193 Test Method for Resistivity of Electrical Conductor
ages of nickel may be obtained by mutual agreement between Materials
the manufacturer and the purchaser. For information purposes, B258 Specification for Standard Nominal Diameters and
the thickness of coating in microinches provided by the Cross-SectionalAreasofAWGSizesofSolidRoundWires
percentages listed above is shown in Table 1. Used as Electrical Conductors
1.3 Four classes of nickel-coated, copper-clad steel wire are B452 Specification for Copper-Clad Steel Wire for Elec-
covered as follows: tronic Application
1.3.1 Class N30HS—Nominal 30 % conductivity, hard E75 TestMethodsforChemicalAnalysisofCopper-Nickel
drawn. and Copper-Nickel-Zinc Alloys
1.3.2 Class N30A—Nominal 30% conductivity, annealed. 2.3 American Chemical Society:
1.3.3 Class N40HS—Nominal 40 % conductivity, hard Standard Reagents Tests
drawn. 2.4 NIST Standard:
1.3.4 Class N40A—Nominal 40% conductivity, annealed. NBS Handbook 100—Copper Wire Tables
1.4 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded
3. Terminology
as the standard. The values given in parentheses are for
information only, except for resistivity, where the SI units are 3.1 Definitions of Terms Specific to This Standard:
3.1.1 lot—any amount of wire of one class and size pre-
to be regarded as the standard.
1.5 The following safety hazards caveat pertains only to the sented for acceptance at one time, such amount, however, not
to exceed 10000 lb (4500 kg) (Note 1).
test method described in this specification. This standard does
not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any,
NOTE 1—Alotshouldcomprisematerialtakenfromaproductregularly
associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this
meeting the requirements of this specification. Inspection of individual
standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices
lots of less than 500 lb (230 kg) of wire cannot be justified economically.
and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior
to use. (Warning—Consideration should be given to toxicity
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 02.03.
and flammability when selecting solvent cleaners.)
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 03.06.
Reagent Chemicals, American Chemical Society Specifications, American
Chemical Society, Washington, DC. For suggestions on the testing of reagents not
listed by the American Chemical Society, see Analar Standards for Laboratory
This specification is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee B01 on Chemicals, BDH Ltd., Poole, Dorset, U.K., and the United States Pharmacopeia
Electrical Conductors and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee B01.06 on and National Formulary, U.S. Pharmaceutical Convention, Inc. (USPC), Rockville,
Composite Conductors. MD.
Current edition approved July 15, 1993. Published September 1993. Originally Available from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 100
published as B559–72. Last previous edition B559–88e . Bureau Dr., Stop 3460, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3460.
Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, United States.
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B 559 – 93 (2002)
TABLE 1 Nickel Mass Percent and Thickness of Coating
Thickness of Nickel,µ in.
Diameter Cross-Sectional Area at 20°C
(for information only)
2 2
in. mm cmil in. mm 2.0 % 4.0 % 7.0 % 10.0 % 27.0 %
0.0720 1.829 5 180 0.00407 2.63 334 637 1 181 1 703 4 892
0.0641 1.628 4 110 0.00323 2.08 298 566 1 050 1 514 4 349
0.0571 1.450 3 260 0.00256 1.65 266 505 936 1 350 3 880
0.0508 1.290 2 580 0.00203 1.31 236 450 833 1 200 3 452
0.0453 1.151 2 050 0.00161 1.04 211 401 743 1 071 3 077
0.0403 1.024 1 620 0.00128 0.823 202 357 661 953 2 738
0.0359 0.912 1 290 0.00101 0.653 167 318 589 849 2 439
0.0320 0.813 1 020 0.000804 0.519 149 283 525 757 2 174
0.0285 0.724 812 0.000638 0.412 133 252 467 686 1 937
0.0253 0.643 640 0.000503 0.324 118 224 415 598 1 719
0.0226 0.574 511 0.000401 0.259 105 200 371 535 1 536
0.0201 0.511 404 0.000317 0.205 94 178 330 475 1 366
0.0179 0.455 320 0.000252 0.162 83 158 294 423 1 216
0.0159 0.404 253 0.000199 0.128 74 141 261 376 1 080
0.0142 0.361 202 0.000158 0.102 66 126 233 336 965
0.0126 0.320 159 0.000125 0.0804 59 112 207 298 856
0.0113 0.287 128 0.000100 0.0647 53 100 185 267 768
0.0100 0.254 100 0.0000785 0.0507 47 89 164 237 680
0.0089 0.226 79.2 0.0000622 0.0401 41 80 146 211 605
0.0080 0.203 64.0 0.0000503 0.0324 . 71 131 189 544
0.0071 0.180 50.4 0.0000396 0.0255 . 63 116 168 482
0.0063 0.160 39.7 0.0000312 0.0201 . 56 103 149 428
0.0056 0.142 31.4 0.0000246 0.0159 . 50 92 132 381
0.0050 0.127 25.0 0.0000196 0.0127 . 44 82 118 340
0.0045 0.114 20.2 0.0000159 0.0103 . 40 74 106 306
0.0040 0.102 16.0 0.0000126 0.00811 . . 66 95 272
0.0035 0.089 12.2 0.00000962 0.00621 . . 57 83 238
0.0031 0.079 9.61 0.00000755 0.00487 . . 51 73 211
For small lots of 500 lb (230 kg) or less, the purchaser may agree to the NOTE 2—Nickeloncopper-cladsteelwireprovidesaprotectivecoating
manufacturers’regularinspectionoftheproductasawholeasevidenceof for a prevention of oxidation of the copper either during fabrication or
acceptability of such small lots. service.
3.1.2 sample—a quantity of production units (coils, reels,
6. General Requirements
etc.) selected at random from the lot for the purpose of
6.1 Tensile strength and elongation of the nickel-coated
determining conformance of the lot to the requirements of this
wire shall conform to the requirements of Specification B452
specification.
for the applicable size and class of copper-clad steel wire.
3.1.3 specimen—a length of wire removed for test purposes
6.2 Resistivity—Theelectricalresistivityatatemperatureof
from any individual production unit of the sample.
20°C shall not exceed the values prescribed in Table 2. See
Note 3 for calculating electrical resistance.
4. Ordering Information
NOTE 3—Relationships which may be useful in connection with the
4.1 Ordersformaterialunderthisspecificationshallinclude
values of electrical resistivity prescribed in this specification are shown in
the following information:
2 2
Table 3. Resistivity units ⁄58 V-mm /m and 0.15328 V-g/m at 20°C are
4.1.1 Quantity of each size.
respectively the international equivalent of volume and mass resistivity of
4.1.2 Wire size (see Section 7 and Table 1).
annealed copper equal to 100% conductivity. The latter term means that
4.1.3 Class of basis wire (see 1.3).
a copper wire1min length and weighing 1 g would have a resistance of
4.1.4 Mass percentage of nickel coating (see 1.2 and
Table 1).
TABLE 2 Resistivity
4.1.5 Package size (see 14.2 and Section 14). Packaging
Resistivity, max at 20°C
inspection, if required (see 9.1.3).
4.1.6 Special package marking, if required. Class of Wire Nickel V-mm /m
Mass %
4.1.7 Place of inspection (see 13.1).
N30A and N30HS 2 0.05906 (0.059062)
4 0.05951 (0.059513)
5. Materials and Manufacture
7 0.06021 (0.060210)
5.1 Thebasismaterialshallconsistofcopper-cladsteelwire 10 0.06093 (0.060926)
27 0.06543 (0.065433)
conforming to the product description, quality and specifica-
tion requirements of Specification B452.
N40A and N40HS 2 0.04442 (0.044418)
5.2 The nickel-coated wire shall consist of the basis wire 4 0.04490 (0.044902)
7 0.04561 (0.045614)
coated with nickel (Note 2). The quality of the nickel-coated
10 0.04636 (0.046362)
wireshallbesuchthatthefinishedproductmeetstheproperties
27 0.05122 (0.051216)
and requirements in this specification.
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B 559 – 93 (2002)
TABLE 3 Equivalent Resistivity Values
Resistivity Equivalents at 20°C
Volume
Nickel
Conduc- Volume Mass
Class Mass
tivity at 20°C
% V·lb/
2 2
% IACS V·mm /m V·cmil/ft µV·in. µV·cm V·g/m
mile
N40A and 2 38.814 0.044418 26.72 1.7489 4.4418 2067.2 0.36202
N40HS
4 38.379 0.044902 27.01 1.7679 4.4902 2089.7 0.36596
7 37.795 0.045614 27.44 1.7960 4.5614 2122.8 0.37176
10 37.185 0.046362 27.89 1.8254 4.6362 2157.6 0.37786
27 33.661 0.051216 30.81 2.0165 5.1216 2383.5 0.41742
N30A and 2 29.190 0.059062 35.53 2.3253 5.9062 2748.5 0.48135
N30HS
4 28.969 0.059513 35.80 2.3431 5.9513 2769.5 0.48503
7 28.633 0.060210 36.22 2.3706 6.0210 2802.0 0.49071
10 28.297 0.060926 36.65 2.3987 6.0926 2835.3 0.49654
27 26.349 0.065433 39.36 2.5762 6.5433 3045.0 0.53328
0.15328 V. This is equivalent to a resistivity value of 875.20 V·lb/mile , NOTE 4—The values of the wire diameters in Table 1 are given to the
which signifies the resistance of a copper wire 1 mile in length weighing nearest 0.0001 in. (0.003 mm) and correspond to the standard sizes given
1 lb. The volume resistivity is equivalent, for example, to 1.7241 µV cm in Specification B258. The use of gage numbers to specify wire sizes is
of length of a copper bar 1 cm in cross section.Acomplete discussion of notrecognizedinthisspecificationbecauseofthepossibilityofconfusion.
thissubjectiscontainedin NBS Handbook 100.Theuseoffivesignificant An excellent discussion of wire gages and related subjects is contained in
figures in expressing resistivity does not imply the need for a greater NBS Handbook 100.
accuracy of measurement than that specified in Test Method B193. The
8. Workmanship, Finish, andAppearance
use of five significant figures is required for complete reversible conver-
sion from one set of resistivity units to another.
8.1 Thenickelcoatingshallconsistofasmooth,continuous
6.3 Continuity of Coating—The nickel coating shall be layer, firmly adherent to the surface of the copper. The wire
continuous. The continuity of the coating shall be determined shall be bright and free from all imperfections not consistent
on representative samples taken before stranding or insulating with good commercial practice.
and shall be determined by the sodium polysulfide test, in 8.2 ThefinishofthesamplestakeninaccordancewithTable
accordance with 10.2. Wire whose coating weight corresponds 4shallconformtotherequirementsof8.1.Thenumberofunits
toathicknesslessthan50µin.(0.00005in.)(1.3µm)shallnot in the sample showing surface defects not consistent with
be subject to this test. commercial practice shall not exceed the allowable defect
6.4 Adherence of Coating—The nickel coating shall be number c in Table 4. Failure to meet this requirement shall
firmlyadheredtothesurfaceofthecopper-cladsteelwire.The constitute failure to meet the finish conformance criterion.
adherence of coating on the wire shall be determined on
9. Sampling
representative samples taken before stranding or insulating.
Theadherenceofcoatingshallbedeterminedbythewrapping, 9.1 The number of production units in a sample (Note 5)
and immersion test in accordance with 10.3. shall be as follows:
6.5 Mass of Coating—Themassofnickelcoatingexpressed
NOTE 5—Cumulative results secured on the product of a single manu-
inpercentofthetotalmassofthewireshallbenotlessthanthe
facturer,indicatingcontinuedconformancetothecriteria,arenecessaryto
percentage specified and referred to in this specification or the
ensure an over-all product meeting the requirements of this specification.
percentage as agreed on between the manufacturer and pur- The sample size and conformance criteria given for the various charac-
teristics are applicable only to lots produced under these conditions.
chaser at the time of the placing of the order. For ease of
comparison, the thickness of coating for various percentages
9.1.1 For tensile strength, elongation, resistivity, mass of
has been included in Table 1.
coating and adhesion and other defects, the sample shall
6.6 Joints—Necessary joints in the wire and rods prior to
consistoffourproductionunits.Forsurfacefinishthesampling
final coating and drawing shall be made in accordance with
good commercial practice.
TABLE 4 Sampling for Surface Finish and Packaging Inspection
Allowable
7. Dimensions, Mass, and Permissible Variations
Number of
Number of Units Number of
Units in
7.1 The wire sizes shall be expressed as the diameter of the
in Lot Defective
Sample, n
Units, c
wire in decimal fractions of an inch to the nearest 0.0001 in.
(0.003 mm) (Note 4). For diameters under 0.0100 in. (0.254 1 to 30, incl all 0
31 to 50, incl 30 0
mm), the wire shall not vary from the specified diameter by
51 to 100, incl 37 0
more than+0.0003 in. (0.009 mm) and−0.0001 in. (0.003
101 to 200, incl 40 0
mm) and for diameters of 0.0100 in. (0.254 mm) and over, the 201 to 300, incl 70 1
301 to 500, incl 100 2
wire shall not vary from the specified diameter by more
501 to 800, incl 130 3
than+3% and−1%, expressed to the nearest 0.0001 in.
Over 800 155 4
(0.003 mm).
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B 559 – 93 (2002)
shall be in accordance with Table 4. From each unit, one test add sufficient flowers of sulfur (in excess of 250 g/L of
specimen of sufficient length shall be removed for the perfor- solution) to provide complete saturation, as shown by the
mance of required tests. presenceinthesolutionofanexcessofsulfurafterthesolution
9.1.2 For dimensional measurements, the sample shall con- has been allowed to stand for at least 24 h. Make the test
sist of a quantity of production units shown in Table 5 under solution by diluting a portion of the concentrated solution with
heading“ First Sample.” distilled water to a specific gravity of 1.142 at 15.6°C (60°F).
9.1.3 For packaging inspection (when specified by the The sodium polysulfide test solution should have sufficient
purchaser at the time of placing the order), the sample shall strength to blacken thoroughly a piece of clean uncoated
consist of a quantity of production units as shown in Table 4. copperwirein5s.Aportionoft
...