Nichrome Definition and 44 Threads

Nichrome (also known as NiCr, nickel-chromium or chromium-nickel) is a family of alloys of nickel, chromium, and often iron (and possibly other elements) commonly used as resistance wire, heating elements in things like toasters and space heaters, in some dental restorations (fillings) and in a few other applications.
Patented in 1906 by Albert Marsh (US patent 811,859), nichrome is the oldest documented form of resistance heating alloy.
A common nichrome alloy is 80% nickel and 20% chromium, by mass, but there are many other combinations of metals for various applications.

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  1. E

    Resistance Differences: Nichrome vs. Copper Wire

    i don't understand the answer: Nichrome has a higher resistance than copper wire. There is a greater potential difference across the nichrome than the copper wire. From ,the resistance of nichrome is low enough such that there is significant power output. ^ i feel like the bold parts contradict...
  2. ecjoyner

    Calculating and Customizing Telescope Dew Heater Bands for Optimal Performance

    I want to make my own scope dew heaters, I have 8 meters of nichrome band, with 1,82 ohm/meter resistance. How do I calculate the length for a specific temperature (around 8 Celsius over ambient) and how to wrap it i.e. in a coil or in a series of parallel 320° circles? The circumference of the...
  3. McGuire Made

    Fire Starting Stick for Prairie Burns

    I'm trying to figure out the best approach of creating an electric fire starting stick that we plan to use for prescribed prairie burns in Iowa. The drip torches we currently use are fuel based, and we are trying to move away from this if possible. I need help determining how to configure a...
  4. eigenmax

    What is the work function of Nichrome?

    Hello, Does anyone know the work function of nichrome ? I can't seem to find it online. Thanks,
  5. R

    Length and Area of Cylindrical Nichrome Resistor

    Homework Statement You must complete the circuit of (Figure 1) in such a way that it draws a current of 0.450 A from the battery. The battery maintains a potential difference of 10.0 V with no load, but has an internal resistance of Rbatt = 15.0 Ω . The only material you have is 20.0 mm^3 of...
  6. H

    Nichrome Wire foam cutter/heater

    I am planning to build a foam cutter by heating up a piece of nichrome wire. I found that nichrome has a relatively high resistance compared to other conductors and it is the reason why it is used as a heating element. That is what confuses me because I think it only applies for constant voltage...
  7. S

    Nichrome wire overheating failure in standard air heater

    Am experimenting with an Omega Engineering AHP 7561 standard air heater rated for up to 240v. Specs include ability to keep a 20 cfm flow exiting @1000F while pulling about 10A @220v. Nichrome melts around 2400F. I'd like to produce small bursts (lasting a few seconds) of very hot air, like...
  8. C

    Nichrome and Copper Circuit w/ Electron Mobility

    Homework Statement In the circuit shown, two thick copper wires connect a 1.5 V battery to a Nichrome wire. Each copper wire has radius R = 0.009m and is L = 0.17m long. Copper has 8.4 \times 10^{28} mobile electrons/m^3 and an electron mobility of 4.4 \times 10^{-3}(m/s)/(V/m). The Nichrome...
  9. Z

    Heat Transfer by Nichrome wire and Steel

    Hello all. I want to do some experiment but I thought I would go over this theoretically before trying out and now I have a doubt. Homework Statement I have a driver which produces say 600mA. I connect the driver to one end of Nichrome Wire. And the other end of Nichrome wire is in contact...
  10. H

    Nichrome Wire Temperature Calculation

    Hey there, I've scouted this forum for years, and it's nice to have finally joined. :) I come to you with a problem. The objective is to find the correct voltage needed to heat air and another metal to a certain temperature, and then to maintain this certain temperature indefinitely within...
  11. swallace36

    Heating a Nichrome wire around a glass tube

    Hello, Stupid computer scientist student speaking here. I am looking to heat a few inch long glass tube with a OD of around 10mm and wall around 1.5mm wrapped in Nichrome wire to around 365F. Air will then be drawn through the tube to heat up herbs sitting about the glass tube. (vaporizer) I...
  12. A

    Finding Specification for Heating Nichrome Wire

    hello,If anyone of you help me in finding specification(diameter of nichrome wire required) for a 2 m nichrome wire to heat up to 65 degree Celsius .Voltage applied is 12 v. I want to use it by coiling it to cylindrical mica sheet to make a smaller heating product.Temperature should not exceed 65.
  13. L

    Nichrome Resistance Wire Consistently Failing

    Greetings, folks! I have spent the past six years developing a matching pair of 13"-square heating plates to mount to the inside bottom (front and rear) of a Sun-Mar Excel NE composting toilet drum. The heating plates are necessary to keep the compost in the composting drum between 70º and...
  14. N

    Low voltage Low heat, battery powered heater

    Hey guys! I have been following the forum for quite some time now. With all of you smart people out there, I am hoping you can help me design a heater, or at least lead me in the right direction. What I am attempting to create is a battery powered heater, to maintain a temperature of...
  15. Q

    What would be the best method for heating copper tubing via nichrome?

    What would be the best method for heating copper tubing via nichrome wire? Voltage is 10
  16. Q

    Took apart a hot plate, nichrome is touching directly to the iron?

    Took apart a hot plate, nichrome is touching directly to the iron?? How is it not shorting out?
  17. G

    Nichrome wire heater optimisation

    Hi, I am designing a plastic recycler and I need advice on choosing gauge of some nichrome wire. I want the heater to reach around 220 degrees C and I will be powering it with a laptop charger (19v 7.1 amps). Temperature control will be achieved with a PID controller. The nichrome wire will...
  18. M

    Capacitance needed to heat Nichrome wire 34°

    Hi PF! I'm working on a portable heating circuit. I'd like to use an ultracapacitor charged by 2 AA batteries to increase the temperature of 2.25m of 1mm Nichrome wire by 34° in 6 seconds. The question is, what capacitance does the ultracapacitor have to have? Initial values: •...
  19. G

    Nichrome Wire Heating Element for Tube Reactor

    Hey all, First post, thanks in advance for any help. I see there is a lot of discussion on this site and others about nichrome heating elements. I apologize if my question is very similar to others, but I have not exactly been able to figure out what I need to learn/lookup to answer my...
  20. K

    Please help me design a Li-Po powered nichrome heating element (400°F)

    Hello everybody, hopefully I am posting this in the right spot. What I am trying to do is design a heating element powered by a Li-Po battery (RC battery probably) to heat a heating element to a range of 360-420°F. I want the temp to be adjustable, probably on three settings, so one for 360...
  21. A

    Resistivity of Nichrome experiment

    Every year we do an experiment to find the resistivity of Nichrome wire, and every year the result is the same: 5 x 10^-7 instead of 1 x 10^-6. For the life of me I haven't been able to track down why it's a factor of 2 off. We use a Wheatstone bridge that has a 1 m length Nichrome wire...
  22. T

    Heating 800 watts nichrome wire with a battery.

    hi guys.. I'm new here and this is my first post.. my friends told me that the title of this post is impossible and i need a car battery to heat the 800W nichrome wire, and i believe them.. they also said that AC will solve the problem.. but i need to use DC so i came up with using diodes.. the...
  23. S

    Making Heating Element From NiChrome Wire

    I need to make a 1 metre long heating element from NiChrome Wire. The wire I have is 0.9mm with resistance of 1.7ohms per metre. Can I wire it straight to the mains with a light dimmer switch in place to limit the power?
  24. M

    Current in a hollowed nichrome wire

    Homework Statement A 10.0 cm long hollow nichrome tube of inner diameter 2.20 mm , outer diameter 5.10 mm is connected to a 2.50 V battery. What is the current in the tube? Homework Equations V=IR R = p*(L/A);p = resistivity of nichrome (1.5E-6), L = length of wire, A = Surface area of...
  25. T

    Heating Nichrome Wire with 9.6V Battery - Newbie Help

    Hello - I am a newbie looking for some basic help. I am working on a school project and need to heat about 24 inches of coiled nichrome wire. I am using a 9.6V battery ((1600mAh). It heats the wire nicely, but only lasts a minute or so. Do I need a Potetiometer to regulate the heat or some...
  26. H

    Battery Powered Nichrome wire Heater help

    Hello, I am new to this and need some help designing a project of mine. I am trying to build a small battery powered heater using nichrome wire. I am going to be heating a liquid within a coiled copper tube and plan on heating it by wrapping the tube in nichrome wire. Since this is a...
  27. N

    Linear induction to produce heat in a nichrome wire - Possible?

    linear induction to produce heat in a nichrome wire - Possible?? I'm attempting to design a device that will use the same principals as the faraday flashlight. Wherein a rare Earth magnet slides back and forth inside of a copper solenoid coil, which generates a current. My device would then...
  28. J

    Nichrome wire resistance problem

    Homework Statement Build a heater that runs on 120vac no more than 10 amps. How many watts, 1mm nichrome wire, how long will it have to be at 20deg C. What will the resistance be at 1200deg F. What is the new power at the new resistance. Homework Equations R=V/I P=E/I R=L/A...
  29. P

    Creating a Nichrome Heating Coil for 12V, 36W @373K

    Homework Statement A heating coil is to be made, from nichrome wire, which will operate on a 12 V supply and will have a power of 36 W when immersed in water at 373 K. The wire available has a cross-sectional area of 0.10 mm². What length of wire will be required? (Resistivity of nichrome at...
  30. F

    Nichrome Wire Suppliers in Canada: Where to Find Affordable Options?

    Where would i buy some Nichrome wire in Canada?
  31. K

    What Is the Current in a Nichrome Tube Connected to a 4V Battery?

    Homework Statement A 60.0 hollow nichrome tube of inner diameter 1.60 , outer diameter 4.20 is connected to a 4.00 battery.What is the current in the tube? \rho = 1.5*10^-6 ohm for nichrome Homework Equations I=dletaV/R R=\rhoL/A -a should be the crossectional area The Attempt at a...
  32. R

    Battery Powered Nichrome Heating Element (80 Degrees)

    Hi there, I have been doing research on a lil private project of my own, and am looking for some help. Would it make sense to use nichrome wire to build a heating element that will heat to 80-100 degrees? It seems that nichrome is great for heating way way past that temperature. I want to...
  33. P

    How to heat nichrome wire with home batteries at 37C (99F) degrees

    Hello, I would like to be able to heat a nichrome wire with batteries (probably with a D batterie, but if it can be done with AA batteries, it's better, cause it's cheaper). I would like to be able to heat a nichrome wire of about 2 feat long at a temperature similar to the body...
  34. J

    Nichrome heater - Heat transfer through conductors?

    I am working to build a device that includes an air pump and heater. The pump will push air through a tube at the end of which will be a heater element. After doing some research, it seems that Nichrome is the standard heating wire for hobbies. I'm planning to have the heater in a glass-section...
  35. S

    A coaster heater with nichrome wire <- circuit and components advice

    A coaster heater with nichrome wire <-- circuit and components advice Okay, for a certain... project I have, I need to make a little heater-type thing that would most likely go in the base of a mug. The concept is, it keep your hot drink hot. No more cold tea or coffee. But for the sake of...
  36. G

    The Heating of Nichrome Wire in a toaster

    Homework Statement A toaster with a Nichrome heating element has a resistance of 70 ohms at 20oC and an initial current of 1.6 A. When the heating element reaches its final temperature, the current is 1.39 A. What is the final temperature of the heating element? Homework Equations V=IR...
  37. N

    Can a Small Motor Effectively Heat Nichrome Wire for a Low Power Heater?

    Ok, I'm rather new to electronics as I've only taken a high school-level electronics class and that was several years ago. Right now I'm trying to put together a low power heater consisting of a length of nickel chromium wire and a DC or stepper motor. What I'd like to do eventually is be able...
  38. H

    Nichrome Resistor and Copper wire

    Homework Statement A 10 ohms Nichrome resistor is wired into an electronic circuit using copper leads (wires) of diameter 0.6 mm with a total length of 50 cm. The additional resistance is due to the copper leads is 0.03 ohms. What change in temperature would produce a change in resistance...
  39. J

    Troubleshooting Nichrome Wire for Cigarette Lighter

    Hello all... I have been having some trouble with some nickel/chromium resistance wire I have brought to act as a heating element, it is 0.375mm dia. and I am using 100mm lengths. I had originally intended to heat it up with a standard 9V battery, but it is behaving strangely when I connect it...
  40. S

    Investigating Portable Nichrome Heaters

    ive been given a problem in skul which goes lyk dis: "Many cars have an electrical ciggerate lighter which it is possible to plug other appliances into such as heaters, phones, lights, etc. An electrical firm that wants to produce small portable heaters which can be plugged into...
  41. G

    Human powered still - Nichrome wire

    The ASME design competition is to design a human powered still... basically to use human power to boil water. We have a bike running a DC motor, producing a range of 100-250 watts (depending on pedal speed, we need to test this). To convert this to electricty, we were thinking of using...
  42. U

    Target temperature of nichrome heating element

    newbie here, I've been searching many forums and cannot find the questions/answers I am looking for (close, but not quite). so, I am going to ask my question in a very specific, detailed manner. i want to use nichrome wire to make 8 heating elements. they will each be a single strand...
  43. I

    Understanding Nichrome Resistivity: Exploring Resistance in a Physics Lab

    im doing a lab in physics where we measure the resistance of nichrome at different length intervals, when we plot the points and draw a line of best fit the line does NOT go through the origin, we are supposed to explain why but i have no idea why that is. can anyone help? thanks
  44. D

    Electric current flowing in a nichrome wire

    Hiya! I have a problem that's got me confused to solve. I want to use ohms law but not right. Here is the problem. A nichrome wire has a radius 0f .5 mm and resistivity of 100 x 10^-8 ohm.m. If the wire carries a current of .5 A what is the voltage across the wire? The length of the wire is...
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