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Feature
Compounds,
colourants &
masterbatches
‘The international standard for the “live”wire is brown.’
Unfortunately for the newcomer to house-wiring colour codes, primers do not stop
with basic brown. Black wires are connected to brass-colored screws, white to silver,
blue to white, green/yellow to green. Three-way circuits impose their own rules on
blue, red and white wires. Switched live voltage applications are more complex – and
colour-critical – still.
The obvious lesson here is that colourants are vitally important in the production of
electrical wire, with zero tolerance for error. And what applies to the ultimate product
– the coloured wire – is no less true of the masterbatches that impart that colour and
the compounds that render insulation and jacketing materials capable of retaining it.
The companies reviewed in this section of
EuroWire
never allow themselves to lose
sight of the basics. An industry whose customers are always setting new and higher
standards for safety, sustainability and reliability demands no less.
Photo courtesy of Woywod Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH & Co Vertriebs KG
July 2013
38
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