Who wouldn't be interested in Free Cable?

For the sake of clarification we'll be discussing cable that is free from heavy metals and halogen donors rather than being free of charge . We apologize if the title misled you.

The wire and cable industry is participating in the "globalization initiative", which seeks having one product that meets all requirements for use anywhere in the world. While this makes for wonderful cocktail conversation, it is fairly challenging to implement.

We, being designers and builders of custom wire and cable products, get frequently asked about products that comply with the many initiatives that are currently discussion items. Included are the European RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) initiative, the California Proposition 65 initiative, the generic "lead free" initiate, and the "halogen free" phenomenon.

Since each of these require the conspicuous absence of something, it seemed appropriate to entitle the article "Free Cable." Let's look briefly at each.

RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances)

By far the one we get asked most frequently about is the European Union's RoHS initiative. From a wire and cable prospective this requires that materials used must not contain more than trace amounts of 6 specified heavy metal materials, most notably lead (Pb). Others materials included in the initiative are mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (CR+6), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).

We at Northwire began an effort several months ago to examine all of the thermoplastic materials that are used in making custom cable products from the standpoint of content of the RoHS substances, lead (as a stand alone), and halogen donors. We wanted to prepare for what we believed would be the inevitable demand from the markets we serve for products that comply in these ways.

As we examined our resident materials we pleasantly discovered that several materials comply already. We unpleasantly found that most color concentrates are loaded with lead and hexavalent chromium (both no-no's). Color concentrates use these materials because of their effectiveness. They make a solid contribution to the vibrant colors that the industry has grown fond of.

This realization caused us to bring in new color concentrates (compliant, naturally) and necessitated requalification with every material that they would be used with. By requalification we are referring to our needing to be sure that inclusion of these color concentrates didn't negatively affect the material performance properties that we expect. This effort was exhausting, but successful.

We mentioned that many of our current materials are compliant with RoHS in their current state. Some that are not have next generation replacements that comply. Some materials are not compliant and there are not straight forward replacements.

As of the time of this writing (Feb. 2005) we have compliant solutions for most PVC, SRPVC, many TPE, and some PUR materials. Members of the "olefin" family (PP, PP, etc) are naturally compliant. Members of the Teflon® family (FEP, ETFE, PFA, Halar) are not compliant.

In general we can immediately supply RoHS compliant cables that are U.L. recognized as AWM (Appliance Wiring Material), some ITC/PLTC styles, and most UL 62 Flexible Power Cords (SJT, SJTOW, etc.).

Moving forward we are standardizing on materials that comply wherever possible, and continuing to investigate solutions to complete our total offering. In general products that are required to have FT-1 flammability performance are fairly straightforward. Products that require the more demanding FT-4 flammability performance are less available (not totally unavailable, just less available).

Halogen-Free Cables

Perhaps it's simplistic (We hope not inaccurate) to say that the North American priority has always been to retard cables burning while the European priority has been more geared towards understanding the properties of smoke when cables do burn. The European's have led the charge towards eliminating halogen generating materials for some time.

Some materials are inherently free from halogen donors, most notably olefins. PVCs contain halogen donors, period. Some polyurethane materials that are available to us in North America are halogen free.

We can supply halogen free cables in a wide variety of designs, right now. We can provide a more limited, flame retarded, offering that is UL AWM recognized. We are investigating new halogen free materials that will allow us to greatly expand our offering, if they perform as we hope they will. Undoubtedly additional new materials will be developed, and become available, as the demand for halogen free cables increases.

For more information or if you have any further questions, Please call us at 1-800 468-1516