Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS Related content

Characterization of copper and nichrome wires for

- Liquid nitrogen gauge
S M Trujillo and L L Marino

safety fuse - Semiconduction effects in strain gauge

cements
L Alberts and P E Viljoen
To cite this article: E. Murdani 2016 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 776 012099 - Simple thermal cut-out
P R Elliston and G E Watson

View the article online for updates and enhancements.

This content was downloaded from IP address 207.241.231.82 on 01/05/2019 at 23:15

8th International Conference on Physics and its Applications (ICOPIA) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 776 (2016) 012099 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/776/1/012099

Characterization of copper and nichrome wires for safety fuse

E. Murdani
Study Program of Physics Education, STKIP Singkawang (College of Teacher
Training and Education-Singkawang),
Jalan STKIP, Kota Singkawang-79251, INDONESIA

E-mail: ekamurdani@gmail.com

Abstract. Fuse is an important component of an electrical circuit to limiting the current

through the electrical circuit for electrical equipment safety. Safety fuses are made of a
conductor such as copper and nichrome wires. The aim of this research was to determine the
maximum current that can flow in the conductor wires (copper and nichrome). In the
experiment used copper and nichrome wires by varying the length of wires (0.2 cm to 20 cm)
and diameter of wires (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) mm until maximum current reached that
marked by melted or broken wire. From this experiment, it will be obtained the dependences
data of maximum current to the length and diameter of wires. All data are plotted and it’s
known as a standard curve. The standard curve will provide an alternative choice of replacing
fuse wire according to the maximum current requirement, including the wire type (copper and
nichrome wires) and wire dimensions (length and diameter of wire).

1. Introduction
We often hear the fuse in everyday life. Electrical installation uses as a safety fuse for limiting the
electric current flowing in the electrical circuit. The use of a safety fuse is essential to limit the electric
current flowing in the electronic equipment so that electronic equipment be durable and not easily
damaged by high currents. If the electronic device is written 2 A, the maximum current in the
electronic device is 2 Ampere [1-3]. So we have to choose a wire that is able to flow through the
maximum current 2 A. If the current flows more than 2 A (beyond the ability of fuse wire), the wire
will break. The mechanism of breaking the fuse wire is the maximum current in the wire produces
high heat, because the heat in the wire exceeds the melting point of the wire, the wire will melt and
eventually the wire would break up [4-8]. Therefore, the importance of knowing the dependence of
wire resistance to temperature (melting temperature and ambient temperature), the type of wire and
wire dimensions to be used as a fuse wire.
Fuse wire is a conductor. Conductor is a material that is easy to conduct electric current [1-8]. Some
wire conductors being sold in the market are copper and nichrome [9-10]. Based on the above
background, the researchers are interested to characterize the copper and nichrome wire to a safety
fuse.
When an electric current flowing in the conductor, the electrical energy is converted into heat
continuously. Heat is generated from collision events charge carriers that move with the metal
atoms. Heat conductor will be red because the electrons in the skin conductor moved from the
tracks to the track lower while emitting a photon with a wavelength that is emitted in the
region of the color spectrum of red (λ = 650 nm - 700 nm) [3, 8, 11]. If this heat causes the

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
8th International Conference on Physics and its Applications (ICOPIA) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 776 (2016) 012099 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/776/1/012099

conductor is at its melting point, the wire will melt and eventually the wire will break. The
electric current is decided wire called breaking current (maximum current that can flow in the
wire) [4-12].
Dependence resistance to the type of wire and wire dimensions (length and diameter) is
defined as:
 4 
Ro   (1)
A d 2
With R0 is the initial resistance of wire, ρ is the resistivity, A is the cross-sectional area of the
wire (area of the circle), ℓ is the length of the wire and d is the diameter of the wire [1-10].
The dependences of the resistance on the temperature to be formulated as:
4 
RTmelt  Ro 1   Tmelt  To   2 1   Tmelt  To  (2)
d
RT is the resistance wire on the melting temperature (resistance on maximum current), T0 is the initial
temperature (20°C), temperature coefficient constants at 20°C [1-10].
According to Ohm's law formula:
Vin
I max  (3)
RTmelt
Dependence maximum current to the wire type and dimensions (length and diameter) is defined as:
Vind 2
I max  (4)
4 1   Tmelt  To 
With Vin is the input voltage of the power supply (current source). Resistivity, temperature coefficient
and the melting point of the wire can be seen in Table 1 [4-12].

Table 1. Value of resistivity (ρ), temperature coefficient (α) at 20°C, and melting point (Tmelt)
materials ρ (10-8 Ωm) α (°C)-1 Tmelt (°C)
Copper 1.68 0.0068 1083
Nichrome 100 0.0004 1672

2. Experiment
Tools and materials used in this study is a multimeter, power supply (current source), micrometer
screw and two types of wire conductor (copper wire and nichrome). Experiments carried out by
flowing or varying the electric current until it reaches the maximum value on the copper wire and
nichrome indicated with melted wire. Wire length varied from 0.2 cm to 20 cm while the variation of
the wire diameter is 0.1 mm; 0.2 mm; 0.3 mm; 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm respectively. The series of these
experiments are shown in Figure 1.
conductor wire
RTmelt

current source

Figure 1. The series of wire conductor is connected to the current source [12].

2
8th International Conference on Physics and its Applications (ICOPIA) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 776 (2016) 012099 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/776/1/012099

Wire conductors (copper and nichrome) is connected to the current source and the ammeter in series to
the wire. A symbol in the circuit of Figure 1 is ammeters. Volume on the current source is increased
step by step until the wire broke. Flows were recorded on ammeter shortly before dropping out is the
maximum current that can flow in the wire. Meanwhile, when the wire breaking ammeter will show
zeros because the breakdown of the circuit in the measurement system.

3. Results and Discussion

Experiments carried out by flowing or varying the electric current until it reaches the maximum value
on the copper wire and nichrome indicated with melted wire. The dependence of the maximum current
on the length and diameter of the wire, expressed in a graph called a standard curve. Standard curves
will provide instructions to select the fuse wire as needed. Fuse wire options include the type of wire
(copper wire and nichrome) and wire dimensions (length and diameter of the wire).
The dependence of the maximum current on the length of wire for copper and nichrome wire is shown
in Figure 2.

55 16

y = 0.070x + 11.67
50
R² = 0.969
y = 0.588x + 20.95
14
R² = 0.987
45

12
Maximum Current Rates (Ampere)
Maximum Current Rates (Ampere)

40
y = 0.489x + 13.75 y = 0.080x + 6.942
R² = 0.994 R² = 0.996
35
10

30 d = 0,1 mm d = 0,1 mm
d = 0,2 mm 8 d = 0,2 mm
25 d = 0,3 mm d = 0,3 mm
y = 0.193x + 10.79 y = 0.018x + 5.167
R² = 0.990 d = 0,4 mm R² = 0.998 d = 0,4 mm
6
20
d = 0,5 mm d = 0,5 mm

15 y = 0.017x + 2.694
4
y = 0.101x + 5.719 R² = 0.986
R² = 0.991
10

2
y = 0.001x + 1.050
y = 0.022x + 2.337 R² = 0.998
5
R² = 0.993

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

1/wire length (trillionth of the length) (m-1) 1/wire length (trillionth of the length) (m-1)

(a) (b)
Figure 2 The standard curves for (a) copper wire, (b) nichrome wire, the relationship between the
maximum current to trillionth of the length of wire for each wire diameter.

From Figure 2 (a), on the same type of wire (copper wire), and on the the same diameter, maximum
current is inversely proportional to the length of the wire. These results are in accordance with the
equation (4). Based on the equation (1), if the length of the wire is great, the wire will have greater
initial resistance. Because the wire resistance is great, electric current flowing in the wire will be
small.
At different wire types (Figure 2), the length and diameter of the wire is the same, it appears that the
maximum current of copper wires is greater than nichrome wire. This difference is caused by the
resistivity and the melting point of the wire. The maximum current is inversely proportional to the
wire resistivity and melting point (according to the equation (4)). In Table 1, the resistivity and

3
8th International Conference on Physics and its Applications (ICOPIA) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 776 (2016) 012099 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/776/1/012099

melting point for a nichrome wire is greater than copper wire, so that the resistance at nichrome wire
will be greater than copper wire. Therefore, the electric current can flow (maximum flow) on the
nichrome wire will be smaller than the copper wire.
The dependence of the maximum current on the wire diameter for the copper and nichrome wire are
shown in Figure 3.

16
y = 57.73x + 1.005
50 y = 194.8x + 1.572
y = 55.35x + 0.949
y = 177.3x + 1.45 y = 53.47x + 0.887
14 y = 52.25x + 0.859
45 y = 51.70x + 0.811
y = 166.0x + 1.512 y = 49.80x + 0.840
y = 47.69x + 0.877
Maximum Current Rates (Ampere)

40 y = 45.37x + 0.940
12 y = 44.15x + 1.130
y = 135.4x + 2.716 y = 42.07x + 1.188

Maximum Current Rates (Ampere)

35 y = 122.7x + 2.840
y = 118.6x + 2.572 l = 2 cm
10
30 y = 109.8x + 2.301
l = 2,5 cm
y = 100.0x + 2.057
y = 88.63x + 2.720 8
l = 3 cm
25
y = 85.89x + 2.561 l = 3,5 cm
20 l = 2,5 cm
l = 3 cm 6 l = 4 cm
l = 3,5 cm l = 5 cm
15
l = 4 cm
l = 5 cm 4 l = 6 cm
10 l = 6 cm
l = 8 cm
l = 8 cm
5 l = 10 cm 2 l = 10 cm
l = 15 cm
l = 20 cm l = 15 cm
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
d2 (10-6 m2) d2 (10-6 m2)

(a) (b)
Figure 3. The standard curve for (a) copper wire, (b) nichrome wire, the relationship between the
maximum current to the square of the diameter for each wire length.

From Figure 3 on the same wire length, maximum current is proportional to the square of the
diameter. These results are in accordance with the equation (4). If the wire diameter is great, on the
wire would have a small initial resistance. Because the wire resistance is small, the electric current
flowing in the wire would be great.
Fuse is an important component of an electrical circuit to limiting the current through the electrical
circuit for electrical equipment safety. Safety fuses are made of a conductor such as copper and
nichrome wires. The aim of this research was to determine the maximum current that can flow in the
conductor wires (copper and nichrome). In the experiment used copper and nichrome wires by varying
the length of wires (0.2 cm to 20 cm) and diameter of wires (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) mm until
maximum current reached that marked by melted or broken wire. From this experiment, it will be
obtained the dependences data of maximum current to the length and diameter of wires. All data are
plotted and it’s known as a standard curve. The standard curve will provide an alternative choice of
replacing fuse wire according to the maximum current requirement, including the wire type (copper
and nichrome wires) and wire dimensions (length and diameter of wire).
When an electric current flowing in the conductor, the electrical energy is converted into heat
continuously. Heat is generated from collision events charge carriers that move with the metal atoms.
Heat conductor will be red because the electrons in the skin conductor moved from the tracks to the

4
8th International Conference on Physics and its Applications (ICOPIA) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 776 (2016) 012099 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/776/1/012099

track lower while emitting a photon with a wavelength that is emitted in the region of the color
spectrum of red (λ = 650 nm - 700 nm) [3,8,11]. If this heat causes the conductor is at its melting
point, the wire will melt and eventually the wire will break. The electric current is decided wire called
breaking current (maximum current that can flow in the wire) [4-12].

3. Consclusion
By knowing the maximum current dependence on the type of wire and wire dimensions, will allow
one to determine or replace the fuse wire as needed. The maximum current depends on the type of
wire that is on the resistivity and melting point of the wire. The electrical current is inversely
proportional to the resistivity and melting point of the wire. In the same type of wire, the maximum
current depends on the dimensions of the wire (proportional to the square of the diameter and
inversely proportional to the length of the wire). Standard curves of the experimental results provide
guidance for selecting the fuse wire in accordance with current needs. Selection of fuse wire on the
standard curve covering the type of wire (copper wire and nichrome) and wire dimensions (length and
diameter of the wire).

4. References
[1] Tipler PA 1996 Fisika untuk Sains dan Teknik (Terjemahan Bambang Soegijono) Edisi Ketiga
Penerbit Erlangga Jakarta
[2] Soeharto 1992 Fisika Dasar II Listrik-Magnet Penerbit PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama Jakarta
[3] Halliday D Resnick R 1984 Fisika Jilid 2 (Terjemahan Pantur Silaban dan Erwin Sucipto) Edisi
Ke-3 Penerbit Erlangga Jakarta
[4] Sears FW Zemansky MW 1994 Fisika untuk Universitas 2 Listrik Magnet (Terjemahan Nabris
Chatib) Penerbit Bina Cipta
[5] Giancoli DC 1998 Fisika Jilid 2 (Terjemahan Yuhilza Hanum) Edisi Kelima Penerbit Erlangga
Jakarta
[6] Soetrisno Tan Ik Gie 1979 Fisika Dasar: Listrik, Magnet dan Termofisika Penerbit ITB Bandung
[7] Sears FW Zemansky MW 1994 Fisika untuk Universitas 3 Optika-Fisika Modern (Terjemahan
Nabris Chatib dan Amir Achmad) Penerbit Bina Cipta
[8] Young HD Fredman RA 2004 Fisika Universitas Jilid 2 (Terjemahan Pantur Silaban) Edisi
Kesepuluh Penerbit Erlangga Jakarta
[9] Isliyanti A Murdani E et al 2010 Pembelajaran Praktikum Fisika Berbasis Penelitian:
Karakteristik Kawat Pada Sekering Pengaman Prosiding Seminar Nasional Fisika 2010 Bandung
[10] Murdani E Sutarno D 2011 Karakterisasi Kawat Untuk Sekering Pengaman Prosiding
Simposium Nasional Inovasi Pembelajaran dan Sains (SNIPS) 2011 Bandung
[11] Beiser A 1992 Konsep Fisika Modern (Terjemahan The Houw Liong) Edisi Keempat Penerbit
Erlangga Jakarta
[12] Ismail B 1995 Rangkaian Listrik Jilid 1 Penerbit ITB Bandung