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The Book of Terms

The Book of TermsThe WJI Book of Wire & Cable Terms: an interactive experience of learning and sharing
This book, written by industry volunteers and containing more than 5,000 entries, is an asset for newcomers to wire and cable.

At the same time, it also represents an opportunity for industry veterans to give back by either updating or adding to the more than 5,000 entries. This is an honor system process. Entries/updates must be non-commercial, and any deemed not to be so will be removed. Share your expertise as part of this legacy project to help those who will follow. Purchase a printed copy here.


 

0-9   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Pinch Pass

A pass of sheet through rolls that are set to give a very light reduction.

Pinch Roll

A roll designed to perform a pinching action as material is cropped when it cannot be rolled.

Pinhole

A very small hole in the extruded resin coating.

Pinion

A shape of a gear with regular, accurately spaced, longitudinal serrations, used primarily for small gears. A component of the rolling mill tied in with bearing shafts and rolls.

Pinion Hollow Shape

A hollow extruded or drawn gear with regular, accurately spaced, longitudinal serrations outside, and which is round inside. Used primarily for small gears.

Pinion Wire

A shaped wire of brass, steel and nickel silver, with regular, longitudinal serrations. It has the cross-section of a small gear, the number of teeth usually varying from six to 12. The wire is supplied in straight lengths that are cut off to form small gears and pinions for use in the clockwork mechanism of toys, instru­ments and clocks.

Pipe

A cavity formed by contraction in metal (especially ingots) due to contraction during solidification of the last portion of liquid metal. Also used to describe the defects arising from this in the finished product. A piped rod is therefore one that has a cavity running down its center due to insufficient cropping at the bloom stage when most of the blowholes in the ingot should have been discarded.

Pipe Cable

A pressure cable in which the container for the pressure medium is a loose fitting rigid metal pipe.

Pipe-Line Compression Cables

Com­pression cables in which the outer protective casing is a rigid steel pipe. The pressurizing gas is contained between the outer casing and the impermeable diaphragm of the cores.

Pipe-Type Cable

Product used to transmit power underground at higher voltage. This construction consists of a copper or aluminum conductor insulated by layers of oil-impregnated paper tape and pulled through a coated steel pipe that is then filled with an insulating oil or gas. The electrical capacity of the cable can be increased by forced cooling using heat exchangers and pumps to circulate and cool the oil contained within the pipe.

Piped Rod

A cavity can be formed by contraction in metal (especially ingots) during solidification of the last portion of liquid metal. For rod manufacture, this can result in a “piped” rod, one that has a small cavity running down its center due to insufficient cropping at the bloom stage when most of the blowholes in the ingot should have been discarded.

Piped Wire Breaks

Voids usually formed during the casting of rod, either by excess gas in the molten metal or by solidification shrinkage in the center of the casting.

Piping Voids

A flow pattern defect that is developed during extrusion process.

Pirn

A wooden or paper tube or metal sword shape, on which the weft wire is wound to fit into the shuttle on a weaving machine.

Piston Finish Rod

Round rod with a special surface produced by turning or grinding with close tolerances for diameter and straightness.

Pit

1) A small, sharp depression or cavity produced in a metal surface during electro-deposition or by corrosion. Pits in electro-deposits may or may not pass through to the basic metal and are usually caused by the shielding action of bubbles of gas during deposition. 2) Pockets or cavities created by vaporization of fluid at the point of drawing or rolling as the metal is forced to change its profile or is reduced to a different size. The vaporized bubbles deform the metal under the pressure created at the point of work. 3) A term for the chamber that is usually below grade and designed to hold the reservoirs or be the reservoir for the process fluids of a production facility.

Pitch

1) In a flat cable this is the nominal distance between the index edge of a conductor and the index edge of the adjacent conductor, expressed as a decimal in inches or millimeters or mm. 2) The distance separating one turn in a coil winding from its successor. See Lay. 3) The uniform distance between the same successive points on a gear, chain or other assemblies of like components where they are attached in a defined sequence.

Pitch Diameter

1) Diameter of a circle passing through the center of the conductors in any layer of a multi-conductor cable. 2) Diameter of a circle that connects the corresponding points on the teeth of a gear that are the same distance from each other.

Pitting

1) Forming small sharp cavities or pockets in a metal surface by non-uniform electro-deposition, corrosion or vaporize fluids trapped between the metal and the surface of the drawing die or roll on a rolling mill. See Pit.

PIV

Designation for Positively Infinitely Variable.

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