Circular mil

circular mil
General information
Unit of	Area
Symbol	cmil
Derivation	1 cmil =⁠π/4⁠(0.001 in)2
Conversions
1 cmilin...	... is equal to...
SI units	506.7075 μm2
FPS units	7.853982×10−7in2

Acircular milis aunitofarea,equal to the area of acirclewith adiameterof onemil(one thousandth of an inch or0.0254 mm). It corresponds to approximately5.067×10⁻⁴mm².It is a unit intended for referring to the area of a wire with a circular cross section. As the definition of the unit containsπ,it is easy to calculate area values in circular mils when the diameter in mils is known.

The area in circular mils,A,of a circle with a diameter ofdmils, is given by the formula: $$\{A\}_{\mathrm {cmil} }=\{d\}_{\mathrm {mil} }^{2}.$$

In Canada and the United States, theCanadian Electrical Code(CEC) and theNational Electrical Code(NEC), respectively, use the circular mil to define wire sizes larger than 0000AWG.In many NEC publications and uses, large wires may be expressed in thousands of circular mils, which is abbreviated in two different ways:kcmilorMCM.For example, one common wire size used in the NEC has a conductor diameter of 0.5 inches, or 500 mils, and thus a cross-section of$500^{2}=250{,}000$circular mils, written as 250 kcmil or 250 MCM, which is the first size larger than 0000 AWG used within the NEC.

1000 circular mil equals approximately0.5067 mm²,so for many purposes, a ratio of 2 MCM ≈ 1 mm²can be used with negligible (1.3%) error.

Equivalence to other units of area

As a unit of area, the circular mil can be converted to other units such as square inches or square millimetres.

1 circular milis approximately equal to:

• 0.7854 square mils (1 square mil is about 1.273 circular mils)
• 7.854 × 10⁻⁷square inches (1 square inch is about 1.273 million circular mils)
• 5.067 × 10⁻¹⁰square metres
• 5.067 × 10⁻⁴square millimetres
• 506.7 μm²

1000 circular mils= 1 MCM or 1 kcmil, and is (approximately) equal to:

• 0.5067 mm²,so 2 kcmil ≈ 1 mm²(a 1.3% error)

Therefore, for practical purposes such as wire choice, 2 kcmil ≈ 1 mm²is a reasonable rule of thumb for many applications.

Square mils

In square mils, the area of a circle with a diameter of 1 mil is:

$$A=\pi r^{2}=\pi \left({\frac {d}{2}}\right)^{2}={\frac {\pi d^{2}}{4}}={\rm {{\frac {\pi \times (1~mil)^{2}}{4}}={\frac {\pi }{4}}~mil^{2}\approx 0.7854~mil^{2}.}}$$

By definition, this area is also equal to 1 circular mil, so:

$${\rm {1~cmil={\frac {\pi }{4}}~mil^{2}.}}$$

The formula for the area of an arbitrary circle incircular milscan be derived by applying this conversion factor to the standard formula for the area of a circle (which gives its result in square mils).

$${\begin{aligned}A&=\pi r^{2}=\pi \left({\frac {d}{2}}\right)^{2}={\frac {\pi d^{2}}{4}}&&({\text{Area in mil}}^{2})\\[2ex]&={\frac {\pi d^{2}}{4}}\times {\frac {4~{\textrm {cmil}}}{\pi ~{\textrm {mil}}^{2}}}&&({\text{Convert to cmil}})\\[2ex]&=d^{2}~\mathrm {cmil/mil^{2}} &&({\text{Result is in cmil}}).\end{aligned}}$$

Square inches

To equate circular mils with square inches rather than square mils, the definition of a mil in inches can be substituted:

${\begin{aligned}{\rm {1~cmil}}&={\rm {{\frac {\pi }{4}}~mil^{2}={\frac {\pi }{4}}~(0.001~in)^{2}}}\\[2ex]&={\rm {{\frac {\pi }{4{,}000{,}000}}~in^{2}\approx 7.854\times 10^{-7}~in^{2}}}\end{aligned}}$

Square millimetres

Likewise, since 1 inch is defined as exactly 25.4mm, 1mil is equal to exactly 0.0254mm, so a similar conversion is possible from circular mils to square millimetres:

${\begin{aligned}{\rm {1~cmil}}&={\rm {{\frac {\pi }{4}}~mil^{2}={\frac {\pi }{4}}~(0.0254~mm)^{2}={\frac {\pi \times 0.000\,645\,16}{4}}~mm^{2}}}\\[2ex]&={\rm {1.6129\pi \times 10^{-4}~mm^{2}\approx 5.067\times 10^{-4}~mm^{2}}}\end{aligned}}$

Example calculations

A 0000 AWG solid wire is defined to have a diameter of exactly 0.46 inches (11.68 mm). The cross-sectional area of this wire is:

Formula 1: circular mil

Note: 1 inch = 1000 mils

${\begin{aligned}d&={\rm {0.46~inches=460~mil}}\\A&=d^{2}~{\rm {cmil/mil^{2}=(460~mil)^{2}~cmil/mil^{2}=211{,}600~cmil.}}\end{aligned}}$

(This is the same result as the AWG circular mil formula shown below forn= −3)

Formula 2: square mil

${\begin{aligned}d&={\rm {0.46~inches=460~mils}}\\r&={d \over 2}={\rm {230~mils}}\\A&=\pi r^{2}={\rm {\pi \times (230~mil)^{2}=52{,}900\pi ~mil^{2}\approx 166{,}190.25~mil^{2}}}\end{aligned}}$

Formula 3: square inch

${\begin{aligned}d&={\rm {0.46~inches}}\\r&={d \over 2}={\rm {0.23~inches}}\\A&=\pi r^{2}={\rm {\pi \times (0.23~in)^{2}=0.0529\pi \approx 0.16619~in^{2}}}\end{aligned}}$

Calculating diameter from area

When large diameter wire sizes are specified in kcmil, such as the widely used 250 kcmil and 350 kcmil wires, the diameter of the wire can be calculated from the area without usingπ:

We first convert from kcmil to circular mil

${\begin{aligned}A&={\rm {250~kcmil=250{,}000~{\text{cmil}}}}\\d&={\sqrt {A~\mathrm {mil^{2}/cmil} }}\\d&={\rm {{\sqrt {(250{,}000~cmil)~mil^{2}/cmil}}=500~mil=0.500~inches}}\end{aligned}}$

Thus, this wire would have a diameter of a half inch or 12.7 mm.

Metric equivalent

Some tables give conversions to circular millimetres (cmm).The area in cmm is defined as the square of the wire diameter in mm. However, this unit is rarely used in practice. One of the few examples is in a patent for a bariatric weight loss device.

${\rm {1~cmm=\left({\frac {1000}{25.4}}\right)^{2}~cmil\approx 1{,}550~cmil}}$

AWG circular mil formula

The formula to calculate the area in circular mil for any given AWG (American Wire Gauge) size is as follows.$A_{n}$represents the area of number$n$AWG.

$A_{n}=\left(5\times 92^{(36-n)/39}\right)^{2}$

For example, a number 12 gauge wire would use$n=12$:

$\left(5\times 92^{(36-12)/39}\right)^{2}=6530~{\textrm {cmil}}$

Sizes with multiple zeros are successively larger than 0AWG and can be denoted using "number of zeros/0"; for example "4/0" for 0000AWG. For an$m$/0AWG wire, use

$n=-(m-1)=1-m$in theabove formula.

For example, 0000AWG (4/0AWG), would use$n=-3$;and the calculated result would be 211,600 circular mils.

Standard sizes

Standard sizes are from 250 to 400 in increments of 50kcmil, 400 to 1000 in increments of 100kcmil, and from 1000 to 2000 in increments of 250kcmil.

The diameter in the table below is that of a solid rod with the given conductor area in circular mils. Stranded wire is larger in diameter to allow for gaps between the strands, depending on the number and size of strands.

Standard kcmil wire sizes
& solid copper equivalents

Area		Diameter		NECcopper wire ampacitywith 60/75/90 °C insulation (A)
(kcmil, MCM)	(mm2)	(in)	(mm)
250	126.7	0.500	12.70	215	255	290
300	152.0	0.548	13.91	240	285	320
350	177.3	0.592	15.03	260	310	350
400	202.7	0.632	16.06	280	335	380
500	253.4	0.707	17.96	320	380	430
600	304.0	0.775	19.67	355	420	475
700	354.7	0.837	21.25	385	460	520
750	380.0	0.866	22.00	400	475	535
800	405.4	0.894	22.72	410	490	555
900	456.0	0.949	24.10	435	520	585
1000	506.7	1.000	25.40	455	545	615
1250	633.4	1.118	28.40	495	590	665
1500	760.1	1.225	31.11	520	625	705
1750	886.7	1.323	33.60	545	650	735
2000	1013.4	1.414	35.92	560	665	750

Note: For smaller wires, consultAmerican wire gauge § Tables of AWG wire sizes.

See also

• Thou (length)
• Square mil
• IEC 60228,the metric wire-size standard used in most parts of the world.
• American Wire Gauge (AWG),used primarily in the US and Canada
• Standard Wire Gauge (SWG),the British imperial standard BS3737, superseded by the metric.
• Stubs Iron Wire Gauge
• Jewelry wire gauge
• Body jewelry sizes
• Electrical wiring
• Number 8 wire,a term used in the New Zealand vernacular