Flexible resins gain UL listing for cables

A Sabic Innovative Plastics product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 23, 2006

Wire and cable products incorporating high-performance Flexible Noryl resins now only need to undergo short-term aging testing.

Various grades of flame-retardant Flexible Noryl resin for wire coating and insulation have been listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) under the UL1581 reference standard for electrical wires, cables, and flexible cords, for up to 105C end-use temperature rating.

As a result, proposed wire and cable products incorporating high-performance Flexible Noryl resins only need to undergo short-term aging testing, rather than a 150-day long-term aging test, speeding time to market.

The new GE materials have already proven themselves in the automotive and consumer electronics industries, and, with this new UL listing, are poised for rapid growth in appliance wiring applications.

The UL758 safety standard is used by UL to evaluate wire and cable applications and assign successful constructions an AWM Style number and descriptive style page.

Each AWM Style Page provides a set of criteria for an AWM construction that other manufacturers must adhere to.

Since Flexible Noryl resin was listed, approximately 30 new AWM Style Pages have been approved for various products that incorporate the GE materials.

Most of these applications use Flexible Noryl resins as a replacement for PVC wire coatings to meet end-customer requirements for nonhalogenated flame retardants.

Examples include computer cable, hook-up wire, flat ribbon cable, and others.

Flexible Noryl resins were introduced in 2005 as part of GE's ecomagination initiative to help customers solve tough environmental challenges.

The materials also deliver excellent performance properties such as excellent temperature and flammability, better abrasion resistance than cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), excellent chemical resistance, and lower specific gravity (1.03) than either PVC or PE.

For wire and cable manufacturers, these resins also offer easy processing and faster throughput, as they do not require cross-linking.

Flexible Noryl resins are an excellent material candidate for thin- and ultra-thin-wall coatings that can significantly reduce weight and mass.

"As part of GE's ecomagination initiative, Flexible Noryl resins are intended to meet global requirements for halogen-free parts allowing customers to display environmental responsibility", said Hiroshi Yoshida, Global Market Director for Wire Coating, GE Plastics.

"They also provide outstanding flame retardance, flexibility, and softness".

"UL's listing of Flexible Noryl resin under its appliance wiring standard will make it easier and faster for wire and cable manufacturers to achieve UL approval of products that leverage our material".

Flexible Noryl resins provide flame-retardant properties capable of meeting UL1581-VW1 performance, one of the most stringent global requirements for consumer electronics.

As a replacement for PVC, which can leach phthalates (plasticisers) into the environment and form dioxins when burned, the Flexible Noryl resin portfolio of 10 grades complies with the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) standard governing specific heavy metals and certain brominated FR additives.

Flexible Noryl resins also help customers comply with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) requirements by avoiding an additional waste stream from PVC that can add to recycling costs.

Wire and cable construction criteria provided by UL758 Style Pages include: temperature and voltage ratings; conductor sise and material; insulation material and thickness; jacket material and thickness; shields or coverings; and the UL reference standard used to evaluate the wire.