I'm in need of some very durable heating wire that is capable of high wattage. It will be bent repeatedly to fit the shape of whatever it needs to heat and will be in contact with this item (don't worry about conductivity). No bend will be greater than 90 degrees and that will have a curve to it, not a right angle (so in a 90 degree turn it might make this over 2-4 cm distance, so it is like an arc). The shaping will be done while cool (or while warm, med-warm/hottish - or whatever is best for the wire).


I found a good NiChrome calcualtor chart that has really opened my eyes as to how gauge, voltate, current and length are related, though some things still seem counter intuitive.
http://www.jacobs-online.biz/nichrome/NichromeCalc.html
My need is that I need temps high enough to melt various things (such as calcium carbonate and other carbonates) as well as some glass and it needs to do this quickly. The max length (of heating) that will be needed will most likely be about 118" but could possibly be as high as 142" but I suspect it can be done with the 118".
If I need 142" at 1900F the chart shows that 8g wire is needed (which seems much too large)

I attached the lengths and gauges needed for a temp of 1900F from 8g to 20g and the specific voltage needed for them. The thing is IDK if there are other metals that would be better for this such as titanium, stainless steel, or something more exotic - as long as it can take repeated bending around a solid contour.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what would be a good choice for this wire?

 

Does the heater have to be in direct contact with the heated material? I don't think there is anything that can be heated to such temperature and then be bent, because the layer of hard oxides on the surface will break it. Maybe the stainless steel, but even that will oxidize.

 

Does the heater have to be in direct contact with the heated material? I don't think there is anything that can be heated to such temperature and then be bent, because the layer of hard oxides on the surface will break it. Maybe the stainless steel, but even that will oxidize.

The way I've seen it is that it is wrapped around the object, then powered on and then it melts through and powers down. I know the wire is reused MANY times (talking about hundreds at least). When it is wrapped around, there is only enough pressure to ensure it makes contact with the object, it doesn t need to apply constriction pressure. At 1900F it should only take about 2-4 seconds for the process.

From what I saw, I don't think this was in an inert environment but I guess there may have been N2 as a gas, but I HIGHLY doubt it, as the person was working with this on a table.

 

The way I've seen it is that it is wrapped around the object, then powered on and then it melts through and powers down. I know the wire is reused MANY times (talking about hundreds at least). When it is wrapped around, there is only enough pressure to ensure it makes contact with the object, it doesn t need to apply constriction pressure. At 1900F it should only take about 2-4 seconds for the process.

From what I saw, I don't think this was in an inert environment but I guess there may have been N2 as a gas, but I HIGHLY doubt it, as the person was working with this on a table.

Buy commercial heating tape...

https://www.briskheat.com/products/heaters/heating-tapes-and-cords.html

 

Buy commercial heating tape...

https://www.briskheat.com/products/heaters/heating-tapes-and-cords.html

yeah, please tell me how that will work at 1900F.?

 

Rather than a single large conductor, can you build an element of multiple smaller strands? Stranded wire tends to be more durable than the equivalent sized solid conductor.

 

If you are heating a conductive object, try induction heating. Otherwise, as suggested, use multiple strands of resistance wire. Or, you might want to use a high current transformer with regular copper or steel wire, like in this video:

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Just be very careful if you decide to do that, as melting metal and salvaging a microwave transformer are very dangerous.

 

René wire is a better alternative to nichrome, check this out: http://jacobs-online.biz/rene_wire.htm

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Also, take a look at this chart dealing with other alloys:

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Rather than a single large conductor, can you build an element of multiple smaller strands? Stranded wire tends to be more durable than the equivalent sized solid conductor.

This seems the better solution without sacrificing the capability of the wires.

 

Rather than a single large conductor, can you build an element of multiple smaller strands? Stranded wire tends to be more durable than the equivalent sized solid conductor.

Stranded wire is not acceptable by three reasons:
1. Less durability because of bigger loss of wire material thro larger area of oxidation.
2. Impossibility of keeping form assigned by bending because of low wire toughness and strands pilling ability.
3. Impossibility of safe wire clearing after soaking melted item substrate between strands.

 

Stranded wire is not acceptable by three reasons:
1. Less durability because of bigger loss of wire material thro larger area of oxidation.
2. Impossibility of keeping form assigned by bending because of low wire toughness and strands pilling ability.
3. Impossibility of safe wire clearing after soaking melted item substrate between strands.

Well, that's all I got.