The difference between single wire and stranded wire

If you deal with the subject of cables, sooner or later you will come across the terms wire and stranded wire. But what exactly is the difference and what are the advantages and disadvantages? This article takes a closer look at the main features of wires and strands and highlights the different areas of application and their advantages.

What it’s all about:
Wire and strand usually describe the inner conductor of a cable through which electrical signals are transmitted. In order to protect the signal transmission and minimise loss over distances, this inner conductor is protected with a sheath and other components. Further information on the structure of a cable, e.g. a coaxial cable, can be found at koax24.de | Structure.

A single inner conductor wire:

A wire consists of just a single conductor, often made of copper or steel. For very thin cables, a steel wire is often used to ensure stability, which is often silver-plated or copper-plated. A copper wire, sometimes tinned or silver-plated, is often used for thicker cables and offers greater flexibility compared to a steel wire.

As a rule, wires are therefore solid and therefore only slightly bendable, making them best suited for fixed installation. The advantages of a solid wire are generally a lower attenuation value and a higher electrical load capacity, which can increase signal transmission and signal quality.

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Several individual wires, twisted together – stranded wire:

A stranded wire is an inner conductor with many very thin individual wires. Some of these are only a fraction of a millimetre in diameter and are braided together to form a single inner conductor. This ensures a particularly high degree of flexibility, which increases with the number of interwoven individual wires. Stranded wires are often used in moving applications where the cable is repeatedly bent.

Another advantage of stranded conductors over wires is the reduced risk of conductor breakage. The cable can still be used even if a certain number of the individual wires are broken.

Summary:
The correct choice of inner conductor is heavily dependent on the intended application of the cable. However, this should not be the only decisive factor in choosing the right cable. Other factors such as the material of the outer sheath, the insulation and other components of the cable play an important role.

On the koax24.de | product information page, you will find a lot more information on application, structure, attenuation and you can put together your desired cable assembly directly in the configurator or select one of many standard cable assemblies.

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The difference between single wire and stranded wire

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