The circular mil is a unit of area used especially when denoting the cross-sectional size of a wire or cable.

A circular mil is the equivalent area of a circle whose diameter is 0.001 (10-3) inch, or approximately0.7854 millionths of a square inch. Mils of circular wire or cable can be calculated as: mils = 1000 d where d = diameter of cable or wire (inches)
Example - Calculating Mil

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Mils of a 1 inch wire: mils = 1000 (1 in) = 1000 Mils of a 1/2 inch wire: mils = 1000 (1/2 in) = 500

The Circular Mil

The circular mil area of a wire or cable is equal to its diameter - expressed in mils squared: CM = mil 2 where CM = circular mil area (CM) The diameter in mil of a circular wire can be expressed as: mil = CM1/2 (2b) (2)

Example - Calculating mil area

The mil area of an 3/8 in wire (0.375 in or 375 mil) can be calculated as CM = (375 mils) (375 mils) = 140625 cmil
Example - Calculating mil

The mil of an circular wire with area 140625 CM can be calculated as mil = 1406251/2 = 375 mils

The Square Mil Area

The square mil is the area of a square whose sides are one mil, or 1 x 10-3 inch, and can be expressed as: One Square Mil = (1 x 10-3)2 = 1 x 10-6 in2

Converting Circular Mil to Square Inch

1 Circular mil = 0.7854 x 10-6 Square Inch

Converting Circular Mil to Square Mil

1 Circular Mil = 0.7854 Square Mil 1 Square Mil = 1.27 Circular Mils

Converting Circular Mil to metric units

1 circular mil = 5.066 x 10-10 m2 = 5.066 x 10-6 cm2 1 m2 = 1.974 x 109 circular mil 1 cm2 = 1.974 x 105 circular mil