Wire & Cables |

This was one of the first practical applications of radiation processing. For decades, a significant fraction of the plastic sheathing on wire and cable has been cross-linked by electron beam, giving it improved strength, heat, and abrasion resistance, and allowing thinner insulation thickness thereby reducing weight.

Product improvement obtained by irradiation include increased tolerance to high temperature environments and overloaded conductors, fire retardation, increased abrasion resistance and tensile strength, reduction in cold flow, increased resistance to solvents and corrosive chemicals as well as some other important characteristics.

Throughput goes up, operating costs go down...and companies can participate in markets unavailable to those using conventional CV crosslinking.

Irradiated wires are commonly used in automobiles, military vehicles, aircraft and many other applications where high performance is required.

Streamline your production with a solution adapted to your product & process needs:

Dynamitron® |

The strengths of the Dynamitron® are its ruggedness & reliability together with its adaptability

Wire & Cable Jacket Irradiation |

 

Energy level evaluation
Automotive wires (High Density Polyethylene  compound p=1.3 g/cm³)

1. 0.35 mm² (OD 1.4 mm / W 0.28 mm)
2. keV              = 197 * 1.3 {0.28(1.4 – 0.28)} ½  + 325
                        = 468 (400 keV if twisting)

1. 6.00 mm² (OD 4.3 mm / W 0.45 mm)
2. keV              = 197 * 1.3 {0.28(4.3 – 0.45)} ½  + 325
                        = 660 (440 keV if twisting)

It is a common in the irradiation technology to consider that the energy level (MeV) is adequate when the energy deposition level inside the product is at least the same as the surface level.
Please note that a compound of higher density would require higher energy.
Equally, a thicker wall insulation would also require a higher energy.

- Power evaluation

Once the energy level is calculated, the power of the accelerator must be evaluated. Evidently, the more products you want to irradiate per unit of time, the higher the power required.
The capability (meters/minutes) of the E-beam accelerator considered is evaluated in function of the constraints with the following formula;                                      

 
m/min = 1549 * I / S * D

1. I = Beam current (mA) ;
2. S = Center line spacing of wires (mm), not less than 2*OD
3. D = Dose (Mrad) - note : 1Mrad = 10 kGray
1. D is set for each compound and mechanical property

 

Example

1. 0.35 mm² (OD 1.4 mm / W 0.28 mm)
   m/min           = 1549 * 50 / 3.08 * 10
          > 1,200 m/min

1. 6.00 mm² (OD 4.3 mm / W 0.45 mm)
   m/min           = 1549 * 50 / 9.46 * 10
          > 800 m/min

Irradiation : Key Concept