This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) discusses the often overlooked relationship between hot stamp marking and the environmental conditions that contribute aircraft wiring problems and discusses current beliefs of military service experts, regulatory agencies and industry standard writing bodies about the potential hazards imposed by the hot stamping process.

Although prominent members of the aerospace community are taking aggressive measures to phase out the hot stamping of interconnecting wire, the process lingers on, particularly within the operations of smaller manufacturers, modification shops, and operator maintenance facilities. In recent years, non-impact marking processes have been developed that can mark virtually all of the common wire types used in aerospace interconnect applications. The purpose of this document is to encourage full conversion to non-impact marking processes in order to reduce the probability of causing damage to the wire insulation.