DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-VOLTAGE LEAD WIRES USING ELECTRON-BEAM IRRADIATION

It is known to those skilled to the art that the electric wires used in high voltage operating electric equipments such as TV sets, microwave ovens, duplicators and etc., have such a structure that a conductor is coated with an insulating layer which is encapsulated with a protecting jacket layer. The electric wire specification such as UL and CSA requires superior cut-through property and flame-retardant property of the wire for utilization safety. The cut-through property of insulation material, for example, high density polyethylene, can be increased by crosslinking of the polymer. Also the flame-retardant property of jacket material which protects the flammable inner insulation can be raised by flame-retardant formulating of the material. In the wire and cable industry, crosslinking by electron beam processing is more effective than that by chemical processing in the viewpoint of through-put rate of the products. The jacket layer of the wire plays the role of protecting the insulation material from burning. The protecting ability of the jacket is related to its inherent flammability and formability of swollen carbonated layer when burned. Crosslinking of the material gives good formability of swollen carbonated layer, and it protects the insulation material from direct flame. In formulating the flame-retardant jacket material, a crosslinking system must be considered with base polymers and other flame-retardant additives.