Stainless Steel Question

[greasegizzard]

So I went to my local B&M today to see if they had any stainless wire. The guy there gave me some 24awg. I forgot to ask what grade it is, and he followed me out of the store to grab something out of his truck. I asked him in the parking lot and he said "surgical grade." I took a deep breath and asked him was it 304, 316, 316L...? He said he's pretty sure it's 316L. So I just said thanks and walked away.

Naturally, what he gave me is just short of 1 meter, so I cut 50 centimeters and hooked it up to my multimeter. It reads 2.1 ohms. According to the wire wizard on steam engine, 24awg 317L has a resistivity of 3.95 ohms/meter. Am I safe to assume I have 24awg 317L wire?

 

[edyle]

So I went to my local B&M today to see if they had any stainless wire. The guy there gave me some 24awg. I forgot to ask what grade it is, and he followed me out of the store to grab something out of his truck. I asked him in the parking lot and he said "surgical grade." I took a deep breath and asked him was it 304, 316, 316L...? He said he's pretty sure it's 316L. So I just said thanks and walked away.

Naturally, what he gave me is just short of 1 meter, so I cut 50 centimeters and hooked it up to my multimeter. It reads 2.1 ohms. According to the wire wizard on steam engine, 24awg 317L has a resistivity of 3.95 ohms/meter. Am I safe to assume I have 24awg 317L wire?

sounds reasonable to me.

 

[Scy123]

You are forgetting with stainless steel wire the ohms will change with temperature. Not sure how much that will affect it.

 

[edyle]

the resistivity values on steam engine are probably for 20 degrees celcius.

 

[greasegizzard]

That's a good point about it changing. I just assumed what they had would be for a "room temperature" piece of wire.

 

[edyle]

That's a good point about it changing. I just assumed what they had would be for a "room temperature" piece of wire.

20 degrees celcius is used because it is considered standard room temperature.

5 to 10 degrees is like the inside of a fridge.
30 is normal temperature where I am in the tropics.