EoW July 2007

12 / 120

EuroWire – July 2007 10
english corporate news
Cables 2007 discusses
current issues
The 7th Applied Market Information (AMI)
international conference on cables was
hailed a big success.
The event, at the MaritimHotel in Cologne,
Germany, heard Kerry Satterthwaite
(AMI) give an excellent overview of the
European cable industry.
Around 2% of the plastics processors
in Europe are cable producers and
polymer consumption varies in different
geographic regions, despite EU efforts to
harmonise the industry.
A primary focus of the conference was
the new European Construction Products
Directive – wires and cables are now
considered building materials.
This new legislation classifies cables by
their fire safety performance and the
testing protocols are still being worked
out as described by Terry Journeaux, of
Prysmian Cables & Systems. The problem
is to develop repeatable and reproducible
standards so that accredited laboratories
all give the same fire classification for the
same cables.
There is a lot of cable in modern buildings
and as electrical failure is a common cause
of ignition, cable fire performance can be
critical. David Kiddoo, of AlphaGary, gave
a spectacular presentation including live
video clips of cable fire testing to different
safety standards, from the Steiner Tunnel
to the riser cable test. He commented
on combustion toxicity, a topic also
addressed by Dr Rick Whiteley. Dow
Corning has also been carrying out fire
testing – on a variety of new compounds
under development.
Vivien Kilian (Albermarle) examined trends
in automotive wire and cable. Materials
differ in different global regions and
include PVC, or XLPE and PP with flame
retardants. The paper examined potential
future trends in flame retardants.
Elastogran has TPU materials for cable
applications – around 50% of use is
in automotive applications where the
company has worked on flat cable
technology for automated installation.
PolyOne has examined the hot oil
resistance of compounds for applications
such as railways, offshore, marine, military
and machinery.
The key application discussed by Borealis
was data cable, a sector driven by the
rapid growth in IT and communications
systems. The trend is to install as advanced
a cable as possible to anticipate demand.
There are issues with ‘crosstalk’ between
cables and this requires the development
of new test protocols and standards.
New materials for cables were introduced
at the conference including metallocene-
based elastomers (ExxonMobil), elastomer
modified polyphenylene sulphide for
high temperature wire coating (Chevron
Phillips Chemicals), halogen-free flame
retardant compounds (AlphaGary, Arkema
and Budenheim), electron beam cured
elastomers (Lanxess), coupling agents
for halogen-free polyolefins (DuPont
de Nemours) and silanes for faster
crosslinking of PE (Degussa). Dow Wire &
Cable is working on new semi-conductive
compounds to speed up production.
Herbert Baur talked about the design of
bedding compounds, which lie between
the insulating compound and the cable
sheath. Compatibility is important and
factors such as plasticiser migration have
been studied as it can have a major effect
on long-term performance.
Dr Gunter Beyer, of Kabelwerk Eupen,
has been working on nanocomposite
flame retardants for the cable industry.
In his experience, layered double
hydroxides have a major synergistic effect
with halogen and non-halogen flame
retardants. They appear to act by altering
the degradation pathway and imparting
barrier properties.
Cables 2008 is moving to a larger capacity
conference hall and has been scheduled
for 3rd-5th March 2008 in the Maritim Hotel,
Cologne, Germany.
Cables 2007 – UK
Fax: +44 117 311 1534
Email:
Website:
Guests at Cables 2007 ▲
euroLITE – the European specialist
trade fair for the design and
serial production of lightweight
components – goes from strength-
to-strength.
With the focus firmly on making
savings in terms of costs, raw
materials and energy, while reducing
weight and improving dynamics,
euroLITE is highlighting a growth
market with a bright future.
Staged at the Salzburg Exhibition
Centre, Austria, from 26th-28th June,
euroLITE is seeing an increasing
number of exhibitors booking
space at Europe’s only dedicated
lightweight construction trade fair.
In addition to exhibitor information,
the organisers H & K Messe GmbH &
Co KG and MesseZentrum Salzburg
GmbH have arranged an attractive and
informative supporting programme.
Alongside a specialist lightweight
construction forum with practical
lectures, this also includes an R&D
area with the involvement of the
Vienna University of Technology and
Leichtbau-Cluster Landshut.
H & K Messe GmbH & Co KG
– Germany
Fax: +49 721 5704 4422
Email:
Website:
lLightweight
lcomponents
lexhibition