Kanthal slower to heat than Nichrome?
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Chris...
Here are several Sandvik AB / Kanthal resistive heating wire handbooks... from which you can learn a great deal about the physical and mechanical properties of heating wire.
Most of the application information isn't really applicable in comparison to our relatively miniscule use... but the basic overview of wire design, and advantages per type, is still very informative for the vapist desiring a better understanding of one of the most critical components in the vape arsenal.
kanthal_appliance_handbook.pdf
https://www1.elfa.se/data1/wwwroot/assets/datasheets/06080303.pdf
http://www.kanthal.com/Global/Downl...ting wire and strip/S-KA026-B-ENG-2012-01.pdf
http://heatingelements.hitempproduc...l-Furnace-Mini-Handbook---Metric-version-.pdf
Enjoy! ;-)
Here are several Sandvik AB / Kanthal resistive heating wire handbooks... from which you can learn a great deal about the physical and mechanical properties of heating wire.
Most of the application information isn't really applicable in comparison to our relatively miniscule use... but the basic overview of wire design, and advantages per type, is still very informative for the vapist desiring a better understanding of one of the most critical components in the vape arsenal.
kanthal_appliance_handbook.pdf
https://www1.elfa.se/data1/wwwroot/assets/datasheets/06080303.pdf
http://www.kanthal.com/Global/Downl...ting wire and strip/S-KA026-B-ENG-2012-01.pdf
http://heatingelements.hitempproduc...l-Furnace-Mini-Handbook---Metric-version-.pdf
Enjoy! ;-)
State, you seem very knowledgable of wires. Do you have any info on what twisting the wires does to the wires integrity? Someone on a different forum speculated that twisting could break the outer layer of kanthal, exposing the core which he speculated contained different material that might be more harmful than the outer layer.
Hey Kemo... good question. Based on what I understand, you can't really break or expose anything.
Unheated Kanthal metallurgy is homogeneous in cross-section. There is no 'core' and the aluminum oxide insulation barrier doesn't actually exist until the wire is heat cycled a few times, at a sufficient temperature for the "metal migration" (my term - for lack of a better one) to occur.
This is why you see a first time, dry fired coil go from inconsistent heating to a smooth, controlled "inside to outside" heating progression, as that electrically insulative layer develops.
Although I've used it often enough myself... 'Layer' (or shell for that matter - but easy to write out ;-) ) is such a poor choice of term... makes it seem rather brittle, when in fact there is a molecular bond at work here. Many are not aware that Kanthal is made via heat-fused, powdered metal technologies... which is how, or why, all Kanthal comes to you in a pre-annealed form.
Expanding on your initial concern... wire that is torched prior to actual twisting, or basic wrapping for that matter... well, I suppose that done to excess, you could cause a migration to develop.
What effect the bending and twisting has on (torched or "re-annealed"
) wire's functionality and effective live span, I can't say... probably of little consequence, other than wasted effort. Expanding even more... knowing the above is why I stopped torching wire prior to wrapping, preferring instead to use simple holding tools - in my case, a variety of hemostats - to provide adequate tension... to achieve a tightly wrapped compressed coil that requires little to no additional compression after installation and during the dry fire phase.
Addendum: Forgot to mention. Wire that is damaged, will, to a certain degree - depending on age and the number of peak heat cycle dry fires and other variables - "heal" itself by reforming the alumina insulation barrier. At least until that aluminum content is consumed, leaving mostly bare iron and a bit of chromium.
OK... that's about all I know.
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Besides the wire difference the biggest factor in heat up and cool down times is the gauge of wire. Heavy gauge heats slower than lighter gauge. At a given power range.
Nichrome does heat slightly slower than Kanthal at equal ohms. If you have a 1.2 ohm 30g coil the kanthal will be 7 mJK-1 heat up and coil down where as the Nichrome at 1.2 will be 10.6 mJK-1. Part of that is because it takes more wraps of Nichrome80 to equal 1.2.
If you have a 30g Nichrome 80 coil at .9ohms the wraps will equal the kanthal at 1.2 - but it's still slightly slower heat up and cool down at 7.95mjk
Check this tool out and read the how it works at the bottom.
Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators
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If you tension and actually stretch the wire itself your only making a smaller wire, you could potentially turn a 28g into a 29g
Nichrome does heat slightly slower than Kanthal at equal ohms. If you have a 1.2 ohm 30g coil the kanthal will be 7 mJK-1 heat up and coil down where as the Nichrome at 1.2 will be 10.6 mJK-1. Part of that is because it takes more wraps of Nichrome80 to equal 1.2.
If you have a 30g Nichrome 80 coil at .9ohms the wraps will equal the kanthal at 1.2 - but it's still slightly slower heat up and cool down at 7.95mjk
Check this tool out and read the how it works at the bottom.
Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators
---
If you tension and actually stretch the wire itself your only making a smaller wire, you could potentially turn a 28g into a 29g
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