René 41 Wire

Pronunciation of René: reh-NAY. eh pronounced as the e in met, ay as in hay.  It is pronounced the same as the name René or Reneé.

This wire is made in the USA or western Europe.

Rene 41 (René 41) wire is the ultimate material for hot-wire foam cutting and other hot wire applications—there is nothing better. It retains its high strength at much higher temperatures than normal foam cutting temperatures. Its room temperature tensile strength is double that of nichrome wire and it stretches very little as it is heated.  People who have used Rene 41 have said it is “unbreakable;” not exactly true but very strong and many have used it for years without breaking it.  It is used in production lines cutting foam polystyrene (EPS), thermal laminate and other materials where it is in use continually and also on oscillating cutting frames. It has an excellent track record of durability and long life in these applications as well as others.

Because this wire retains its strength at very high temperatures, it can be run at higher temperatures for cutting and so cut faster.  Also because of its strength, it can be used in longer lengths without needing to increase the diameter which would be required with nichrome.  This means increased speed and smaller kerfs and so less waste.  This one size will work for almost any length.  It is used commercially to cut 4 ft square by 12' long billets of foam and in NC foam cutting machines.

Rene 41 is one of the alloys in the group called superalloys or high-performance alloys and was developed by General Electric for use in the aerospace industry. It is commonly used in gas turbine engines where its high temperature strength, creep resistance, fatigue life, phase stability, and oxidation and corrosion resistance makes it an ideal material for the application.  Other examples of superalloys are Hastelloy, Inconel, Waspaloy, Haynes alloys, Incoloy and others. These alloys are also used in power generation, space vehicles, nuclear reactors, bomb casings, chemical processing vessels and many other uses.

If you are using cutting wire longer than 3 or 4 feet, this wire is recommended, or if you just want a wire that will last almost forever, use it for any length.

This wire is tempered unlike nichrome which usually is annealed. This means that it is stiffer and springs back more than nichrome of the same diameter.

The resistance if René wire is about 10% higher than nichrome wire. 

The Certificate of Conformity for this wire lists the following:

Diameter Tolerance: 0.0137 - 0.0143 inch
Tensile Strength: 1683 - 1727 N/mm2  (244.1 - 250.5 ksi)

This wire conforms to AMS 5545 and AMS 5800 specifications and the following chemical analysis by percent:

Other specifications:

Density: 8.25 g/cm3 (0.298 lb/in3)
Melting Point: 1345 °C (2450 °F)
Coefficient of Expansion 20 °C to 100 °C:  13.6 µm/m °C (7.41 µin/in °F )
Electrical Resistivity at 20 °C:  131 µΩ-cm (Ω Circ. Mill/ft)
Modulus of Elasticity: 218.0 kN/mm2 (31619 ksi)

Temperature		0.2% Yield Strength		Tensile Strength		% Elongation in 2"
°F	°C	ksi	MPa	ksi	MPa
70 1000 1100 1200 1400 1500 1600 1700	21 538 593 649 760 816 871 927	154 147 146 145 136 118 80 50	1062 1014 1007 1000 938 814 552 345	206 203 200 194 160 126 90 58	1420 1400 1379 1338 1103 869 621 400	14 14 14 14 11 14 19 26