ASTM B400/B400M-23

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Designation: B400/B400M − 19 B400/B400M − 23
Standard Specification for
Compact Round Concentric-Lay-Stranded Aluminum 1350
Conductors
This standard is issued under the fixed designation B400/B400M; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year
of original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.
A superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
1. Scope
3 1
1.1 This specification covers aluminum 1350-H19 (extra hard), 1350-H16 or -H26 ([n( ⁄4 ]hard), hard), 1350-H14 or -H24 ( ⁄2
hard) and 1350-H142 or -H242 ( ⁄2 hard) bare compact-round concentric-lay-stranded conductors made from round or shaped wires
for use as uninsulated electrical conductors or in covered or insulated electrical conductors. These conductors shall be composed
of a central core surrounded by one or more roller or die compacted layers of helically applied wires (Explanatory Note 1 and Note
2).
1.2 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in each
system may not be exact equivalents; therefore, each system shall be used independently of the other. Combining values from the
two systems may result in non-conformance with the standard.
NOTE 1—Prior to 1975, aluminum 1350 was designated as EC aluminum.
NOTE 2—The aluminum and temper designations conform to ANSI Standard H35.1. Aluminum 1350 corresponds to Unified Numbering System A91350
in accordance with Practice E527.
1.3 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization
established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued
by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
2. Referenced Documents
2.1 ASTM Standards:
B230/B230M Specification for Aluminum 1350–H19 Wire for Electrical Purposes
B231/B231M Specification for Concentric-Lay-Stranded Aluminum 1350 Conductors
B263 Test Method for Determination of Cross-Sectional Area of Stranded Conductors
B354 Terminology Relating to Uninsulated Metallic Electrical Conductors
B609/B609M Specification for Aluminum 1350 Round Wire, Annealed and Intermediate Tempers, for Electrical Purposes
E29 Practice for Using Significant Digits in Test Data to Determine Conformance with Specifications
E527 Practice for Numbering Metals and Alloys in the Unified Numbering System (UNS)
This specification is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee B01 on Electrical Conductors and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee B01.07 on Conductors
of Light Metals.
Current edition approved March 1, 2019Oct. 1, 2023. Published March 2019October 2023. Originally approved in 1963. Last previous edition approved in 20142019 as
B400/B400M – 14.B400/B400M – 19. DOI: 10.1520/B0400_B0400M-19.10.1520/B0400_B0400M-23.
For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or contact ASTM Customer Service at service@astm.org. For Annual Book of ASTM Standards
volume information, refer to the standard’s Document Summary page on the ASTM website.
Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. United States
B400/B400M − 23
2.2 Other Documents:
ANSI H35.1/H35.1(M) Alloy and Temper Designation Systems for Aluminum
NBS Handbook 100-Copper Wire Tables, of the National Bureau of Standards
3. Classification
3.1 For the purpose of this specification, conductors are classified as follows:
3.1.1 Class AA—For bare conductors usually used in overhead lines.
3.1.2 Class A—For conductors to be covered with weather-resistant materials, and for bare conductors where greater flexibility
than is afforded by Class AA is required. Conductors indicated for further fabrication into tree wire or to be insulated and laid
helically with or around aluminum or ACSR messengers, shall be regarded as Class A conductors with respect to direction of lay
only (see 6.36.4).
3.1.3 Class B—For conductors to be insulated with various materials such as rubber, paper, varnished cloth, and so forth, and for
the conductors indicated under Class A where greater flexibility is required.
4. Ordering Information
4.1 Orders for material under this specification shall include the following information:
4.1.1 Quantity of each size and class (Table 1),
4.1.2 Conductor size; circular-mil area or AWG (Section 7),
4.1.3 Class (Section 3),
4.1.4 Temper (Section 13),
4.1.5 Lay direction if nonstandard Details of special purpose lays, when required (see 6.3 and 6.4), reversed or unidirectional (see
through 6.4) or special (see 6.56.6),
4.1.6 Special tension test, if required (see 17.2),
4.1.7 Place of inspection (Section 18), and
4.1.8 Packaging and Package Marking (Section 19).
5. Joints
5.1 1350-H19 Single Conductors for Use in Bare or Covered Conductor Overhead Lines:
5.1.1 Joints may be made in the six outer wires of seven-strand conductors by cold-pressure welding or by electric-butt, cold-upset
welding, but not by electric-butt welding. Joints are not permitted in the finished center wire of seven-stranded conductors.
5.1.2 Joints may be made in any of the wires in conductors of 18 or more wires by electric-butt welding, cold-pressure welding,
or electric butt, cold-upset welding.
5.1.3 The minimum distance between a wire joint and another joint either in the same wire or in other wires of the completed
conductor shall be 50 ft [15 m].
5.2 Conductors of All Tempers to Be Insulated or Covered, and Not Used as a Tension Member Conductor in Overhead Lines:
5.2.1 Joints may be made in any of the wires of any stranding by electric-butt welding, cold-pressure welding, or electric-butt,
cold-upset welding.
Available from American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 25 W. 43rd St., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036, http://www.ansi.org.
Available from National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161, http://www.ntis.gov.
B400/B400M − 23
TABLE 1 Construction of Compact-Round Concentric-Lay-Stranded, Aluminum Conductors
NOTE 1—Metric values listed below represent a soft conversion and as such they may not be the same as those metric values which are calculated from
the basic metric density.
Nominal Compact Nominal DC Resistance
Nominal Nominal Mass
Conductor Size
Number of
Conductor Diameter at 20°C20 °C
Class Mass per per Kilometer,
Wires
A
1000 ft, lb kg
Circular Mils AWG mm in. mm Ω/1000 ft Ω/km
B,C
1 500 000 760 B 91 1.299 33.0 1406 2092 0.0116 0.0380
B,C
1 250 000 633 B 91 1.184 30.1 1172 1744 0.0138 0.0453
B,C
1 100 000 557 B 91 1.112 28.2 1031 1534 0.0158 0.0518
D
1 000 000 507 B 61 1.060 26.9 937 1394 0.0173 0.0563
D
900 000 456 B 61 0.999 25.4 844 1257 0.0193 0.0632
D
800 000 405 B 61 0.938 23.8 750 1116 0.0217 0.0712
D
750 000 380 B 61 0.908 23.1 703 1046 0.0231 0.0759
D
700 000 355 B 61 0.877 22.3 656 976 0.0248 0.0813
D
650 000 329 B 61 0.845 21.5 609 906 0.0267 0.0875
D
600 000 304 B 61 0.813 20.7 563 838 0.0289 0.0948
E
556 500 282 AA 19 0.780 19.8 521 775 0.0312 0.102
D
550 000 279 B 61 0.775 19.7 516 768 0.0315 0.103
F
500 000 253 B 37 0.736 18.7 468 696 0.0347 0.114
E
500 000 253 AA 19 0.736 18.7 468 696 0.0347 0.114
E
477 000 242 AA 19 0.722 18.3 447 665 0.0364 0.119
F
450 000 228 B 37 0.700 17.8 422 628 0.0385 0.126
F
400 000 203 B 37 0.659 16.7 375 558 0.0434 0.142
E
397 500 201 AA, A 19 0.659 16.7 372 554 0.0436 0.143
F
350 000 177 B 37 0.616 15.6 328 488 0.0495 0.162
E
350 000 177 A 19 0.616 15.6 328 488 0.0495 0.162
E
336 400 170 A 19 0.603 15.3 315 469 0.0516 0.169
336 400 170 AA 7 0.603 15.3 315 469 0.0516 0.169
F
300 000 152 B 37 0.570 14.5 281 418 0.0578 0.190
E
300 000 152 A 19 0.570 14.5 281 418 0.0578 0.190
300 000 152 AA 7 0.570 14.5 281 418 0.0578 0.190
E
266 800 135 A 19 0.537 13.6 250 372 0.0650 0.213
266 800 135 AA 7 0.537 13.6 250 372 0.0650 0.213
F
250 000 127 B 37 0.520 13.2 234 348 0.0694 0.228
E
250 000 127 A 19 0.520 13.2 234 348 0.0694 0.228
250 000 127 AA 7 0.520 13.2 234 348 0.0694 0.228
E
211 600 0000 107 B 19 0.475 12.1 198 295 0.0820 0.269
211 600 0000 107 AA, A 7 0.475 12.1 198 295 0.0820 0.269
E
167 800 000 85.0 B 19 0.423 10.7 157 234 0.103 0.338
167 800 000 85.0 AA, A 7 0.423 10.7 157 234 0.103 0.338
E
133 100 00 67.4 B 19 0.376 9.55 125 186 0.130 0.428
133 100 00 67.4 AA, A 7 0.376 9.55 125 186 0.130 0.428
E
105 600 0 53.5 B 19 0.336 8.53 98.9 147 0.164 0.539
105 600 0 53.5 AA, A 7 0.336 8.53 98.9 147 0.164 0.539
E
83 690 1 42.4 B 19 0.299 7.59 78.4 117 0.207 0.680
83 690 1 42.4 AA, A 7 0.299 7.59 78.4 117 0.207 0.680
66 360 2 33.6 AA, A, B 7 0.268 6.81 62.2 92.6 0.261 0.857
52 620 3 26.7 A, B 7 0.238 6.05 49.3 73.3 0.330 1.08
41 740 4 21.2 A, B 7 0.213 5.41 39.1 58.2 0.416 1.36
26 240 6 13.3 A, B 7 0.169 4.29 24.6 36.6 0.661 2.17
16 510 8 8.37 A, B 7 0.134 3.40 15.5 23.1 1.05 3.44
A
1 lb/1000 ft = 1.488 kg/km.
B
85 wires minimum.
C
As agreed upon between the manufacturer and the customer, these sizes may be produced with a 61 to 58 wire construction of the appropriate wire size.
D
58 wires minimum.
E
18 wires minimum.
F
35 wires minimum.
5.2.2 Joints in the individual wires in a finished conductor shall be not closer together than 1 ft [0.3 m] for conductors of 19 wires
or less, or closer than 1 ft in a layer for conductors of more than 19 wires.
5.3 No joint or splice shall be made in a stranded conductor as a whole.
6. Lay
6.1 The length of lay orof each layer for Classes AA and A shall be not be less than 11 nor more than 17.5 times the outside
diameter of that layer.
B400/B400M − 23
6.2 The length of lay of the outer layer for Class B shall be not less than 8 nor more than 16 times the outside diameter of the
completed conductor, except that for sizes No. 2 AWG [33.6 mm ] and smaller, the maximum length of lay shall be not more than
17.5 times the outside diameter of the completed conductor.
6.3 For Class AA and A bare conductors having multiple layers of aluminum wires, the length of lay of any aluminum layer shall
not be less than the length of lay of the aluminum layer immediately beneath it.
6.4 The direction of lay of the outer layer shall be right-hand for Classes AA and A, and it shall be reversed in successive layers.
For Class A stranding where the conductors are to be insulated and laid helically with or around aluminum or ACSR messengers,
the stranding lay direction may be unidirectional or unilay in successive layers.
6.5 The direction of lay of the outer layer shall be left-hand for Class B, and it shall be reversed in successive layers,
unidirectional, or unilay.
6.6 Other lay requirements may be furnished by special agreement between the manufacturer and the purchaser.
7. Construction
7.1 The construction of the conductors shall be as shown in Table 1 as to number of wires and cross-sectional area of the
completed conductor, and the lay shall be in accordance with Section 6.
7.2 Wire used in the fabrication of conductor shall be of such dimensions as to produce a finished conductor having a nominal
cross-sectional area and diameter as prescribed in Table 1.
8. Rated Strength of Conductor
8.1 The rated strength of 1350-H19 conductors shall be taken as the percentage, indicated in Table 2, of the sum of the strengths
of the component wires, calculated on the basis of the nominal wire diameter for the corresponding noncompacted construction
given in Specification B231/B231M and the specified minimum average tensile strength given in Specification B230/B230M for
1350-H19 wire (Explanatory Note 6).
8.2 Calculations for rated strengths of 1350-H16, -H26, -H14, -H24, -H142, and -H242 conductors shall be made on the basis of
the strengths of the component wires using the nominal wire diameter for the noncompacted construction given in Specification
B231/B231M and the specified maximum and minimum tensile strengths for the appropriate temper of the respective component
wires given in Specification B609/B609M. The minimum rated strengths of the conductors shall be taken as the sum of the
calculated minimum strengths of the component wires multiplied by the rating factor given in Table 2. The maximum rated strength
of the conductors shall be taken as the sum of the calculated maximum strengths of the component wires (Explanatory Note 6).
8.3 Rated-strength and breaking-strength values shall be rounded to three significant figures, in the final value only, in accordance
with the rounding method of Practice E29.
TABLE 2 Rating Factors
Stranding
Number of Wires in
Conductor Number of Layers Rating Factor, %
7 1 96
A
19 2 93
B
37 3 91
C
61 4 90
D
91 5 90
A
18 wires minimum.
B
35 wires minimum.
C
58 wires minimum.
D
85 wires minimum.
B400/B400M − 23
8.4 Rated strengths of conductors are given in Table 3.
9. Density
9.1 For the purpose of calculating mass, linear density, cross sections, and so forth, the density of aluminum 1350 shall be taken
3 3
as 2705 kg/mfrom the applicable (0.0975 lb/in.ASTM wire ) at specification, B230/B230M20°C. or B609/B609M.
10. Mass and Electrical Resistance
10.1 The mass and electrical resistance of a unit length of stranded conductor are a function of the length of lay. The approximate
TABLE 3 Conductor Rated Strengths
A A
1350-H16, -H26 1350-H14, -H24
A
Conductor Size 1350-H19 1350-H142, -H242
Number of
Wires
Min Max Min Max
cmil AWG mm kips kN kips kN kips kN kips kN kips kN
B
1 500 000 760 91 25.4 113 18.0 80.1 25.9 115 15.9 70.7 23.5 105
B
1 250 000 633 91 21.6 96.3 15.0 66.7 21.6 96.1 13.3 59.2 19.6 87.3
B
1 100 000 557 91 19.4 86.4 13.2 58.8 19.0 84.6 11.7 52.0 17.3 75.2
C
1 000 000 507 61 17.7 78.6 12.0 53.4 17.3 76.8 10.60 47.1 15.7 69.8
C
900 000 456 61 15.9 70.8 10.8 48.1 15.6 69.2 9.55 42.5 14.1 62.9
C
800 000 405 61 14.4 64.1 9.61 42.7 13.8 61.5 8.48 37.7 12.6 55.9
C
750 000 380 61
...