The 302 stainless steel wire has a full hard temper, an unpolished (mill) finish, and a precision tolerance, and meets American Society for Testing and Materials International ASTM A555 and A580 specifications. The 302 stainless steel grade has good corrosion resistance and provides greater strength and better toughness than general-purpose 304 stainless steel. The material may be slightly magnetic and can be cold worked for increased strength and rigidity. The soft temper, also known as annealed, bends readily with minimal force and holds the shape.

Stainless steel is an iron alloy with resistance to staining and rusting in many environments where steel would typically degrade. The chemical composition of each grade creates a grain structure that falls into one of five classes: austenitic, duplex, ferritic, martensitic, and precipitation hardening. The austenitic class contains the most formable, weldable, and corrosion-resistant stainless steel grades, but they cannot be heat treated.

Tensile strength, used to indicate the material’s overall strength, is the peak stress it can withstand before it breaks. Corrosion resistance describes the material's ability to prevent deterioration caused by atmosphere, moisture, or other medium. Toughness describes the material's ability to absorb energy before breaking, while hardness (commonly measured as indentation hardness) describes its resistance to permanent surface deformation. Formability indicates how easily the material can be permanently shaped. Magnetism characterizes how much the material is repelled by or attracted to a magnet.