I have found square red brass wire that I believe is acceptable for my application as I need it to both be slightly magnetic as well as conduct electricity. There are companies that will do this for you, but the cost of having a company do this for you is at least two times the cost of the wire, depending on who you talk to.Conductivity needs to be better than aluminum (aluminium if your outside the US) and it needs to induce current from a varying magnetic field.
Enamels and other protective compound are generally specifically formulated for the application Adherence to, operating temperature, cure temperature…think of delicate electronics. Cannot be baked. The root sum of all this turns out to be that copper, although expensive is the least expensive material, given all the trade-offs. Hope this properly answers your question
If you have a square wire that is magnetic, it can't be brass, copper or aluminium. It would probably be steel. Magnet wire is copper, round in section, and enamel insulated. It is definitely not magnetic. What it does produce is a magnetic field around itself, like any conductor, when current flows in it. You leave me wondering why it should be slightly magnetic for your application, for if copper wire is wound onto a steel or iron or other magnetic material, IT will become magnetic when powered (with DC). It will retain some magnetism when de- powered. Why would you want the wire to be magnetic? Magnet wire will produce a similar current by induction if placed in a varying magnetic field. It seems to me an ideal thing to use. Plus, I'd hate to try working with a square section wire, I think the corners would be highly susceptible to shorting.
