Electric Insulated Wire and Cable Using the Same
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Patentamt Europaisches ||| || 1 1| || || || || || ||| || || || 1 1| (19) J European Patent Office Office europeen des brevets (11) EP07121 39 A2 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION (43) Date of publication: (51) |nt. CI.6: H01 B 7/34, H01 B 3/30, 15.05.1996 Bulletin 1996/20 |_|q-| g 3/44 (21) Application number: 96100650.9 (22) Date of filing: 26.01 .1991 (84) Designated Contracting States: • Yoshino, Akira DE FR GB IT NL Tokyo (JP) • Sunazuka, Hideo (30) Priority: 31.01.1990 JP 19165/90 Tokyo (J P) 23.05.1990 JP 133647/90 • Hasegawa, Masatake Tokyo (JP) (62) Application number of the earlier application in . Mutayama, Motohisa accordance with Art. 76 EPC: 91 1 01 025.4 Tokyo (JP) (71) Applicant: FUJIKURA LTD. (74) Representative: Flosdorff, Jurgen, Dr. Koto-ku Tokyo (JP) Alleestrasse 33 D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen (DE) (72) Inventors: • Ishikawa, Izumi Remarks: Tokyo (JP) This application was filed on 17 - 01 - 1996 as a • Takahashi, Isao divisional application to the application mentioned Tokyo (JP) under INID code 62. (54) Electric insulated wire and cable using the same (57) The present invention relates to an insulated wire conductor and least comprising a at two insulating F I G 2 layers provided on the outer periphery of the conductor. The inner insulating layer is provided directly or via another insulation on the outer periphery of the conduc- tor and comprises a polyolef in compound containing 20 to 80 parts by weight of at least one substance selected from ethylene a-olefin copolymer, ethylene a-olefin pol- yene copolymer (a-olefin having the carbon numbers of C3 - Cm, polyene being non-conjugated diene). The 3 outer insulating layer is made primarily of a heat resistant resin which contains no halogen and which is a single substance or a blend of two or more substances selected from polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyether ketone, polyether ether ketone, polyphenylene oxide, polycarbonate, polysulfon, polyether sulfon, polyether imide, polyarylate, polyimide, or a polymer alloy contain- such resin the main CM ing as component. < CO CM o Q_ LU Printed by Rank Xerox (UK) Business Services 2.11.7/3.4 EP0 712 139 A2 Description Background of the Invention 5 (Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to insulated wire and cable made of such insulation suitable for use in vessels and aircrafts. 10 (Prior Art) One example of prior art is disclosed in the specification of US Patent No. 4,521 ,485. The specification discloses an insulated electrical article which comprises a conductor, a melt-shaped inner insulating layer comprising a first organic polymer component and a melt-shaped outer insulating layer contacting said inner layer and comprising a second organic 15 polymer component and which is useful for aircraft wire and cable. The inner insulating layer comprises a cross-linked f luorocarbon polymer or fluorine-containing polymer containing 1 0% by weight or more of fluorine , f luorocarbon polymer being ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, ethylene/chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymer, or vinylidene fluoride poly- mer. The outer insulating layer comprises a substantially linear aromatic polymer having a glass transition temperature of at least 100°C, the aromatic polymer being polyketone, polyether ether ketone, polyether ketone, polyether sulfone, 20 polyether ketone/sulfone copolymer or polyether imide. The specification of US Patent No. 4,678,709 discloses another example of prior art insulated article which comprises a cross-linked olefin polymer such as polyethylene, methyl, ethyl acrylate, and vinyl acetate as the first organic polymer of the inner insulating layer. According to the second example of prior art, the aromatic polymer used in the outer insulating layer must be crys- tallized in order to improve the chemical resistance. For crystallization, cooling which follows extrusion of the outer 25 insulating layer at 240~440°C must be carried out gradually rather than rapidly. Alternatively, additional heating at 160~300°C must be conducted following extrusion. Such step entails a disadvantage that the cross-linked polyolefin polymer in the inner insulating layer becomes melted and decomposed by the heat for crystallization, causing deformation or foaming in the inner layer. If the outer layer is cooled with air or water immediately after extrusion thereof, melting or decomposition of the inner layer may be avoided but the outer layer remains uncrystallized. This leads to inferior chemical 30 resistance, and when contacted with particular chemicals, the outer insulating layer would become cracked or melted. Thus, use of a non-crystalline polymer such as polyarylate as the aromatic polymer of the outer insulating layer would deteriorate the chemical resistance. Further, the prior art insulating articles do not have sufficient dielectric breakdown characteristics under bending. Insulated articles having excellent flexibility, reduced ratio of defects such as pin holes, and excellent electric properties 35 are therefore in demand. Summary of the Invention The present invention aims at providing insulated electric wire having excellent electric properties, resistance to 40 external damages, flexibility and chemical resistance, and cable using such wire. In order to achieve the above mentioned object, the insulated wire according to the first invention comprises a conductor, an inner insulating layer which is provided directly or via another layer of insulation on the outer periphery of said conductor and which comprises a polyolefin compound containing 20 to 80 parts by weight of at least one substance selected from ethylene/a-olef in copolymer and ethylene/a-olef in/polyene copolymer (a-olefin having the carbon number 45 of C3~C-io; polyene being non-conjugated diene) and an outer insulating layer which is provided on the outer periphery of the inner layer and which mainly comprises a heat resistant resin containing no halogen. The insulated wire of the above construction has improved resistance to deformation due to heat and is free from melting and decomposition at high temperatures as it contains 20-80 parts by weight of at least one substance selected from ethylene/propylene copolymer, ethylene/propylene/diene ternary copolymer, ethylene/butene copolymer, ethylene/butene/diene ternary so copolymer, or the like. Deformation and foaming of the inner insulating layer could also be prevented when the aromatic polymer was extruded on the outer periphery of the inner insulating layer and crystallized by heating. The chemical resistance and resistance to deformation due to heating were found to improve significantly if the resistant resin con- taining no halogen was a single substance or a blend of two or more substances selected from polymide as crystalline polymer, and polyphenylene sulfide, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyether ketone and pol- 55 yether ether ketone as crystalline aromatic polymer, a polymer alloy containing such resins, or the like as the main components. Use of a single substance or a blend of two or more substances selected from polyphenylene oxide, poly- carbonate, polysulfon, polyether sulfon, polyether imide, polyarylate and polyimide, a polymer alloy containing these resins, or the like as the main components as the non-crystalline aromatic polymer is found to improve the resistance of deformation due to heating. 2 EP0 712 139 A2 The second invention of insulated wire comprises a conductor and a three-layer structure comprising an inner layer, an intermediate layer and an outer layer provided directly or via another insulation on the conductor, each insulating layer being made of organic materials containing no halogen. The bending modules of the inner and intermediate layers is smaller than 10,000 Kg/cm2 and that of the outer layer is greater than 10,000 Kg/cm2. The inner layer is made of 5 materials that are difference from those used in the intermediate layer. Melting point of the materials is selected to be below 155°C or glass transition point is selected to be below 155 °C in case of materials having no melting point. The melting point of the outer layer is selected to be above 155 °C or glass transition point is selected to be above 155 °C in case of materials having no melting point. This particular structure improves remarkably the dielectric breakdown characteristics under bending, flexibility, resistance to external damages and electric properties. 10 Insulated wire according to the first or second invention is bundled or stranded in plurality and covered with a sheath to form the present invention cable. As the insulated wire according to both the first and second inventions have excellent flexibility, cable comprising such wire will also be flexible and can be reduced in size. If flame-retardant materials such as polyphenylene oxide, polyarylate, polyether ether ketone and polyether imide are used for the outer layer of the insulated wire according to the second invention, the cable can be used as a flame-retardant cable. Use of a flame- 15 retardant sheath containing metal hydroxides such as aluminum hydroxide or magnesium hydroxide further improves the flame-retardant performance of the cable containing no halogen. Brief Description of the Drawings 20 FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a preferred embodiment of an insulated wire according to the first invention. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view to show another embodiment of an insulated wire. FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of cable utilizing the insulated wire shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of the cable shown in FIG. 3 when its sheath is on flame. FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of an embodiment of an insulated wire having an intermediate layer according 25 to the second invention. FIG. 6 shows a cross sectional view of cable which utilizes the insulated wire shown in FIG. 5. Preferred Embodiments 30 Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail referring to the acompanying draw- ings.