MIL-W-16878

THE A B C’S MIL-W-16878

MIL-W-16878 wire correlates to a former call out for hook-up wire that used Alphabetical designations for various wire types. Because these alphabetical call outs make sense, or just because many people were accustomed to using them, the letters have hung on and are used still as short hand for the military specs. Here’s how they work:

		Insulation Type	Wall Thickness	Conductor Type
Type A	Who can tell us what happened to this one?
Type B	MIL-W-16878/1	PVC	0.010”	TC
Type C	MIL-W-16878/2	PVC	0.015”	TC
Type D	MIL-W-16878/3	PVC	0.031”	TC
Type E	MIL-W-16878/4	PTFE	0.010”	SPC
Type EE	MIL-W-16878/5	PTFE	0.015”	SPC
Type ET	MIL-W-16878/6	PTFE	0.006”	SPC
Type F	MIL-W-16878/7	Silicone	0.015”	SPC
Type FF	MIL-W-16878/8	Silicone	0.031”	SPC
Type J	MIL-W-16878/10	PE	0.031”	TC
Type K	MIL-W-16878/11	FEP	0.010”	SPC or TC
Type KK	MIL-W-16878/12	FEP	0.015”	SPC or TC
Type KT	MIL-W-16878/13	FEP	0.006”	SPC or TC
	MIL-W-16878/14	XLPE		TC
	MIL-W-16878/15	XLPE		TC
	MIL-W-16878/16	XLPE		TC
Type BN	MIL-W-16878/17	PVC/Nylon	.010/.003	TC
Type CN	MIL-W-16878/18	PVC/Nylon	.015/.003	TC
Type DN	MIL-W-16878/19	PVC/Nylon	.031/.003	TC
	MIL-W-16878/20	PTFE Tape	0.006”	SPC
	MIL-W-16878/21	PTFE Tape	0.010”	SPC
	MIL-W-16878/22	PTFE Tape	0.015”	SPC
	MIL-W-16878/23	PTFE	0.006”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/24	PTFE Tape	0.006”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/25	PTFE	0.010”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/26	PTFE Tape	0.010”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/27	PTFE	0.015”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/28	PTFE Tape	0.015”	NPC
	MIL-W-16878/29	Silicone	0.015”	TC
	MIL-W-16878/30	Silicone	0.031”	TC
	MIL-W-16878/31	Sil/FiberGlass		TC
	MIL-W-16878/33	Sil/FiberGlass		SPC
	MIL-W-16878/33	PE/Nylon		TC
	MIL-W-16878/34	Double PTFE Tape		SPC
	MIL-W-16878/35	Double PTFE Tape		NPC
	MIL-W-16878/36	XLPO		TC
	MIL-W-16878/37	EPDM		TC
	MIL-W-16878/38	EPDM		TC

To understand how the part numbers break-down, please see our cheat-sheet here.