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Q. What is ISO certification and why is it important for my company?

A. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 130 countries. ISO is a non-governmental organization with a mission to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world. ISO standards are documented agreements containing technical specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics, to ensure that materials, products, processes and services fit their purpose.
Working with an ISO certified company increases the reliability and effectiveness of the goods and services that are purchased. Assurance of conformity to ISO standards can be provided by manufacturers' declarations or by audits carried out by independent bodies.

Q. Which conductors offer the highest break strengths?

A. The following is a list of highest to lowest break strengths per conductor type for like sizes.
Highest:
* Tinsel (kevlar core)
* Beryllium (SCAS)
* Alloy 135
* Cadmium Copper
* Tinned Copper
Lowest:
* Bare Copper
Carbon Fiber has a relatively high break strength but also a very high sheer rate.

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Q. What is a filler?

A. Fillers are included when it is desirable to round out a cable to obtain symmetry or to provide proper conductor separation in low loss transmission lines. They also act as cushioning in heavy duty cables subject to flexing and impact. The most commonly used fillers are cotton, jute, vinyl, polyethylene, and twisted polyethylene mono-filaments.

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Q. What is a binder?

A. A binder, sometimes called a serve, is a thread spirally wound with a long lay and low pickage. It is placed over individual layers to hold the assembled components in place during subsequent processing. Colored binders are also used to separate and identify identical groups of conductors. While any textile may be used, nylon is usually chosen for electronic cables, polyester or polypropylene for telephone cables.

Q. What is a primary?

A. The inside cable. The plastic used in primaries is the hardest portion of the cable. Primaries are designed to rub against each other, so the inside is typically a polyethylene, polypropylene, or PVC.

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Q. Should I use a shield on my cable, and if yes, what material should I use?

A. First to be considered are the trade-offs between the electrical protection that shielding provides and the cable flexibility. More shielding = less flexibility.
Some degree of electrostatic interference protection is gained by twisting the two conductors. Far more effective though is the addition of a conductive shield. There are 4 main types of shielding materials: braid shield, spiral-wrapped copper, wrapped tinsel, and a laminated shield. Braid Shield: Braided copper wire is widely used and provides variable shielding coverage, depending on how closely it is braided. Maximum physical coverage by the braid is about 96 percent. Advantages of a braid are reasonable flexibility (decreasing with increasing coverage), long flex life, durability, and strength and ability to protect the insulation from mechanical damage. Compared to other shields though, it is high in cost. It cannot provide 100 percent coverage unless more than one braid is used. It is difficult to terminate because the conductor has to be picked through the braid or the braid combed out and twisted into a pigtail. Braid shield also reduces cable flexibility and it adds considerable weight and diameter to the cable. Spiral-wrapped copper: Similar to braid but less costly is a shielding of spiral-wrapped copper wire strands. It should be used only at audio frequencies because of the inductance of the served strands at higher frequencies. Although a served shield is easier to terminate than braid and is somewhat more flexible, it also offers less than 100 percent coverage and adds to cable weight and thickness. A disadvantage sometimes overlooked is a serve-shielded cable's tendency to kink.

Wrapped Tinsel: Wrapped tinsel shields are used for items such as microphone cords requiring exceptional flex life and limpness. Soldering heat damages the very fine ribbons, so termination is usually made mechanically. Like the served copper strand shield, the tinsel shield should not be used at RF.

Laminated Shield: Gaining greatest popularity is the laminated aluminum-foil polyester-film tape-wrapped shield that provides 100 percent coverage, lend itself to a smaller diameter and lighter cable (a big advantage in multi-conductive types), has easily terminated drain wires, offers a flex life approaching that of braid, is suitable for both AF and RF and is the lowest in cost of common shielding materials.

NOTE: When designing common cable be looking toward common components. This helps improve efficiencies.

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Q. Why should I pick one material over another when designing the outer jacket of my wire or cable?

A. Different material is designed for different environmental conditions. Where one material may work in a relatively calm stable environment, the same material may fail horribly in a harsh unstable environment. The following chart lists different environmental conditions and how each type of jacket material rates in those environments compared to each other.