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The Book of Terms

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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

STW

Designation for extra hard usage cord, jacketed. 600V, 60°C to 105°C (140°F to 221°F). Weather resistant for outdoors use.

Styrene-butadiene

Copolymer synthetic rubber characterized by good electrical properties and moisture resistance. Ozone resistance, physical properties and chemical resistance are generally improved by blending with other materials.

Submarine Cable

Cable used underwater from one point to another for power or communication. Lead sheath and/or rubber jacket.

Submarine Power Cable

Used to transfer surplus power between areas where peak demand occurs at different times or to supply islands from the mainland.

Submersible Pump Cable

An assembly of moisture-resistant conductors with or without a jacket.

Subscribers’ Telephone Cable

Many of these consist of bare overhead copper conductors, but insulated under­ground cables are often used in towns. Paper and polyethylene insulation is used and the cable is polyethylene/aluminum laminate sheathed. It is pressurized to provide protection against ingress of water. These cables are insulated with cellular polyethylene and polyethylene sheathed.

Subsieve Size

Classifications of powders for which no commercial sieves are available. Grading by elutriation (in water and air), sedimentation or centrifug­ing.

Substation

An assembly of devices and apparatus to monitor, control, transform or modify electrical power.

Sucking

Stretching or fracture of a wire during drawing when the wire becomes smaller than the actual size of the drawing die because of elongation occurring between the drawing die and the wire block. Causes may include too steep a drawing angle for the die, lack of or unsuitable lubrication, too heavy a reduction of area or anything that sets up resistance to easy metal flow during cold drawing.

Suggested Working Voltage

AC voltage that can be applied between adjacent conductors.

Sulfur

Element, chemical symbol S. A yellow, nonmetallic element that resembles oxygen chemically but is less active and more acidic. Sulfur is a common residual element in steel originating during smelting where its presence is generally detrimental, with the exception of free machining steels. Below 0.05 percent content, its influence on the properties of the steel is slight, but beyond this limit it is liable to cause red-shortness.

Sulfuric Acid

See Pickling Acid.

Sun and Planet Strander

A strander in which the spools of wires are supported in cradles suspended by a rotating carriage, the cradles moving with a planetary motion. See Planetary Stranding Machine.

Sunlight Resistance

The ability of a conductor or cable insulation to resist degradation caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays.

Super Tension Cable

Cables operating at voltages above 22 kV.

Superabsorbent Powder

A finely ground polymer substance that can absorb up to 1,000 times its weight in water. In wire and cable use, the powder swells when exposed to liquid in order to block the ingress of liquids, primarily water, into the wire or cable.

Superalloy

An alloy developed for very high temperature service where relatively high stresses (tensile, thermal, vibratory and shock) are encountered and where oxidation resistance is frequently required.

Superconductive Wire

Wire that has virtually no elec­trical resistance at temperatures near absolute zero, -273°C (-460°F).

Superconductivity

The abrupt and large increase in electrical conductivity exhibited by some metals as the temperature approaches absolute zero.

Superconductor

Materials whose resistance and magnetic permeability are infinitesimal at absolute zero (-273°C). These are materials in which the resistance drops to almost zero. Superconductivity is exhibited by many of the metallic elements, their alloys and intermetallic compounds.
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