Barbed wire manufacturing standards are defining in ASTM standards.
ASTM standards for American Society for Testing and Materials and “is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and services”$^1$
These standards define agreed upon industry characteristics for the manufacture of barbed wire. Barbed wire manufacturers are not obligated to manufacture their product according to theses standards but if you purchase products that claim to be complaint with these standards you know relatively speaking what to expect.
The primary ASTM standard we are concerned with is: A121-13 Standard Specification for Metallic-Coated Carbon Steel Barbed Wire.
Other ASTM standards potentially of interest are:
Coating Type: Refers to the material that the un-coated wire is coated with
Coating Class: Refers to the “weight”, amount, or thickness of the coating on the wire.
Coating Type A - Aluminum coated. This is very rarely used anymore.
Coating Type Z - Zinc-coated. Known as Galvanized. This is the most common. Coating Thickness: Class 3 > Class 1
Coating Type ZA - Relatively new. Zinc-5% Aluminum-Mischmetal. This is also known as Galfan wire. Coating Thickness: Class 3 > Class 60 > Class 1