Alex Coleman wrote in news:Xns97BA3E7A2DD1F71F3M4@127.0.0.1:
Silicone rubber covering is MUCH more flexible, and stands higher temperatures, but is more expensive and much less resistant to abrasion, cutting and especially crushing. While it's rubbery, it crumbles like a weak crystal under moderate pressure, wheras PVC would be more ductile even at higher pressures. Both give off harmful gasses if you heat them enough to burn. I think silicone rubber might have a higher dielectric strength than similar thickness on PVC, but I'm not sure.
AFAIK, it's always rubbery. I would think heavily crosslinked silicones could have pretty solid structure, but I've never heard of a hard or brittle silicone product so I guess not.
Alex Coleman wrote in news:Xns97BAECBEA67AF71F3M4@127.0.0.1:
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I didn't know they could be hard plastics too.. They mention silly putty, which is a silicone, and an extreme example of what I was getting at. I think many silicones have an abrupt change of properties under impact either at speed or pressure. Cable covering has a weak pressure resistance, silly putty has a poor speed resistance, and either way what happens is they cease to move as a fluid elastic, and will fracture like glass or crystal.
Yes - my oldest soldering iron with silicone lead which came with a Maplin kit solder station must be well over 10 years old and the lead is still fine despite mucho flexing over the years.
I've seem mains cable (240VAC over here) that's super flexible. The examples I've seen use silicone rubber sheathing (which is also exceptionally heatproof, BTW) with cores made from many more & finer strands than usual. Looking at the RS electronics website, (which requires a login, so I can't quote a URL), Beldon's CYSC03.00100 is probably the style of cable you're looking for:
---------- A continental style flexible power control cable, commonly known as ?CY? type. The fine stranding of the cores combined with the tinned copper braid produces a cable with characteristics of a flexible mains cable with the screening properties of a signal cable. This makes the cable ideal for uses such as automated and robotic equipment where screening is required and the equipment may be subjected to vibration or movement. technical specification Conductors Annealed copper Sheath PVC Braid Tinned annealed copper Outer sheath Grey PVC Core colours 3 core Blue, Brown, Green/Yellow 4 core Blue, Brown, Black, Green/Yellow 5 core Blue, Brown, Black, Black, Green/Yellow 7 core Green/Yellow + 6 numbered
Voltage ratings : between conductor and earth 300V between conductors 500V Current ratings: For further details consult IEE Regulations 16th Edition table 4H3 Temperature ratings: Flexing -5°C to +70°C0. Stable -20°C to +70°C
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You'd most likely want the 1.5mm^2 (30 strands, 16A) or 2.5mm^ (50 strands, 20A) types.
I Cables made in the far east are less flexible at normal UK ambient temperatures, they are fine on hot days though. Rubber cable is available but a lot more expensive than PVC. Companies that install cold rooms use rubber because PVC is difficult to handle at low temperatures. Arctic grade PVC is a good compromise but is usually blue or yellow. Silicon rubber cable is available in 0.5mm 3-core, it is usually used for soldering irons and is very flexible. What application did you have in mind?
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