This includes many different types of communication wire. It is a class of wires and cables, rather than a specific type.

Element, chemical symbol Te. A brittle, silvery-white metal produced commercially as a by-product of copper smelting and maintained in the tellurium-copper alloy to aid in machining. Enhances machinability when added to steel.

1) In heat treatment, this process increases the toughness and decreases the hardness of hardened steel or cast iron. It is also applied occasionally to normalized steel. This is done by heating to a temperature below the eutectoid temperature. 2) In tool steels, “temper” is sometimes used, but unadvisedly, to denote the carbon content. 3) In nonferrous alloys and in some ferrous alloys, the term is used to indicate the hardness and strength produced by mechanical and/or thermal treatment, and characterized by a certain structure, mechanical properties, or reduction in area during cold working. A given alloy may be in the fully softened or annealed temper, or it may be cold worked to the hard temper or further to spring temper. Intermediate tempers produced by cold working (rolling or drawing) are called “quarter hard,” “half-hard” and “three-quarters hard” and are determined by the amount of cold reduction and the resulting tensile properties.

See Stress-Relief Annealing.

The loss in impact resistance that is present in some low- and medium-carbon alloy steels when tempered in the range of 350°C to 600°C. It is revealed by the notched bar impact test but not the tensile test.

See TCR.

The maximum temperature at which a product is designed. For instance, it can designate the temperature that insulating material may be used in continuous operation without loss of its basic properties (e.g., operating, overload, short circuit).

The maximum stress which can be applied to a material at a given temperature without physical deformation.

The temperature of the surrounding medium, such as air around a cable.

The temperature at which a cable can be operated for a short time, with some loss of useful life.

The temperature to which a device is designed or rated for normal operating conditions. For cables, the maximum temperature for the conductor during normal operation.

The temperature to which a cable is rated for allowing the overcurrent protection to activate.

See Temper.

A grade of wire cloth produced in mesh counts ranging from 16 x 16 mesh thru 230 x 230 mesh. This is considered a light-weight grade.

Fracture in a wire that is caused by tension exceeding the ultimate tensile strength of the material.

The condition when a plastic material shows permanent deformation caused by a stress, after the stress is removed. This term is the same as Tension Set, but it is known under this heading in the rubber industry, where this is one of the tests for level of cure.

The greatest longitudinal force that a material can bear without tearing apart or rupturing. Also called Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS). It is the maximum tensile load that can be applied to a tensile test specimen beyond which further stretching of the specimen is accompanied by a decrease in the load.

Force per unit of cross-sectional area applied to elongate a material.

Measuring the tensile strength of a material to determine the maximum load the material will satisfactorily withstand prior to fracture. It is performed by increasing a pulling force on one end of the sample, while holding the other end stationary until there is a distortion or rupture. The tensional strength is expressed in newtons.

A facture caused by tension that exceeds the ultimate tensile strength of a material. This can be seen when wire is “necked down,” and a small cup-cone is visible at the break. However, this could also indicate a central burst failure that requires different corrective action.