What are the differences between wire, rod, and bar?
All are solid wrought products that are long relative to their cross section, but are distinguished by the shape of the cross section as well as the largest dimension of the cross section. Bar and rod both have at least one perpendicular distance between parallel faces of 0.375″ or greater. Rod is defined as having a round cross section, while bar has a square, rectangular, hexagonal, or octagonal cross section. Wire has any of the cross sectional shapes allowed for rod or bar, but its greatest perpendicular distance between parallel faces is less than 0.375″. Collectively, these products represent slightly less than 3% of the U.S. Aluminum Industry shipments.
