Choosing Between Foil, Strip and Rectangular Wire
Three conductor formats, three different winding problems. This is how the choice is normally made and what each format costs you elsewhere in the design.
Foil: the full-width turn
Foil gives one turn across the entire coil height, which removes the interturn gaps and simplifies the winding operation. It needs interlayer insulation, and it needs an edge with no burrs, because the burr is what punctures that insulation. Aluminium foil from 0.2 to 3.00 mm and 20 to 1500 mm wide, copper foil from 0.2 to 3.0 mm and 50 to 1350 mm wide.
Strip: heavier gauges and connections
Strip covers the same C1100 production scope as copper foil but is the format used where the section has to carry high current or be formed into a connection. Mechanical properties are set so the strip bends without cracking.
Rectangular wire: a defined number of turns
Enamelled rectangular wire is the format when the winding needs a calculated turns count and its own insulation film rather than interlayer paper. Conductor 0.8 to 5.6 mm by 2.00 to 16.00 mm, thermal class from 120 and 130 grades up to class C at 220 C.
Copper or aluminium
Copper reaches 99 %IACS and tensile strength above 193 MPa; aluminium reaches 63 %IACS or better at a lower weight and lower cost per coil. The trade is cross-sectional area against window space and price.
Materials this applies to
Have a dimension you cannot source?
Narrow widths, odd inner diameters and single coils are all quotable. There is no minimum order quantity.