A lot of smokers have switched from smoking to vaping. The fact that people know that they are slowly killing theirselves by smoking cigarettes and the struggle to improve their health made them stop smoking and start vaping. We all know that e-juice or e-liquid that we fill our atomizers or tanks with is a mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine, usually with water-soluble food flavorings. Which is safe and edible. Nicotines are optional and customizable. Now we have to know about the compositions and types of wires that we use to make coils.
5 Types of Wire for Building Your Coils
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Kanthal - The most popular wire for coiling. It may be cheap but this wire really gets the job done. It has higher resistance and more durable compared to the other types of wire that we use in vaping. Its only downside is that other types of wires will give you more flavor upon using.
Composition: Kanthal is a heat resistant wire which is Ferritic Iron-Chromium-Aluminum Alloy (FeCrAl alloy) for use at temperatures up to 1400°C or 2550°F.
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Nichrome - It is a resistance wire that is used in most electric operated heating elements such as House appliances, Tools, and etc. Generally, it has been around long before Kanthal was known. Though it behaves like a Kanthal, we should know that NiChrome has a lower resistance and heats faster than Kanthal. Meaning, it has faster ramp up time. NiChrome has lower melting temperature so we need to be careful in dry burning it. The other downside of NiChrome is its Nickel content. If you have Nickel allergies, you may want to avoid using it.
Composition: NiChrome (NiCr, nickel-chrome, chrome-nickel) are alloys of nickel, chromium, and often iron. Resistance is up to 1200°C or 2192°F.
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Stainless Steel - It is composed of Chromium-Nickel-Carbon and is highly functional metal as it can be used for both wattage mode and temperature control. Food grade stainless steels are commonly used in medical tools and our food utensils. We eat off cutlery made from Stainless Steels, why not use it for coils?. Its ramp up time is exceptional and the flavor production is great. It is much stronger and easier to work with compared to Titanium. There are many types of Stainless Steel. (301, 302, 303, 304, 304L, 316, 316L, 317 and 317L). "L" stands for Low Carbon composition. The very commonly used among them is the 316L.
Composition: It is composed of Chromium-Nickel-Carbon. Also consists of Manganese, Molybdenum, Silicon, Phosphorus and Sulfur.
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Nickel(Ni200) - It is the fastest of them all when it comes to ramp up time. It has almost zero resistance to electric current. It is commonly used with Kanthal or NiChrome as it has a bad habit of melting if you use it in high wattage.Some vapers however noticed that using nickel wire (or NiChrome) was causing inflammation in the throat as it was perceived that some may be allergic to the wire. Unless they were setting fire to the coils though it is hard to see why this would be the case, but it led to the search for different materials to use in its place.
Composition: Ni200 is 99% pure Nickel Alloy with MAX 0.40% Iron(Fe), 0.35% Manganese(Mn), 0.35% Silicon (Si), 0.25% Carbon (Cu), 0.15% Carbon (C).
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Titanium - For advanced users, it is the most popular wire for Temperature Control (TC) configuration. The wire has fast ramp up and cools down very quick. It also produce outstanding flavor and is easy to work with like Kanthal.
There is some controversy surrounding the safety of titanium wire when used for vaping. My understanding is that it can release a toxic component (titanium dioxide) above 1200℉ (648℃). Also, like magnesium, if titanium ignites it is extremely difficult to extinguish. Some shops will not even sell the wire due to liability and safety issues.
These are the 5 different types of wire that we use in vaping. The bottom line here is that these wires are one of the main factors to obtain your "Sweet Spot" in vaping. You can try experimenting some builds with different gauges of wires, coil diameter, number of wraps and wire type. If you don't have that much time to build some coils, you can visit this link: www.steam-engine.org as it can predict coil readings. It is like an Ohm's Law Calculator.
