Glossary

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There are currently 46 names in this directory beginning with the letter T.
T
Thermoplastic

Take-Up
The process of accumulating wire or cable onto a reel, bobbin or some other type of pack. Also, the device for pulling wire or cable through a piece of equipment or machine.

Tank Test
A voltage dielectric test in which the test sample is submerged in water and voltage is applied between the conductor and water as ground.

Tape Wrap
A spirally applied tape over an insulated or uninsulated wire.

Taped Insulation
Insulation of helically-wound tapes applied over a conductor or over an assembled group of insulated conductors.

Tarnish
A term used to describe the discoloration of a material caused by exposure to a corrosive environment.

Tear Strength
The force required to initiate or continue a tear in a material under specified conditions.

Teflon FEP
Registered trademark of DuPont® Company. Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). A 200°C rated Fluoropolymer that can be used for insulation and jacket applications.

Teflon PFA
Registered trademark of the DuPont® Company. Perfluoroalkoxy (PFA). A 250°C rated Fluoropolymer that can be used for insulation and jacket applications.

Teflon TFE
Registered trademark of the DuPont® Company. Tetrafluoroethylene (TFE). A 260°C rated Fluoropolymer that can be used for insulation and jacket applications.

Teflon®
DuPont’s trade name for fluorocarbon resins. FEP, PFA and TFE are typical materials.

Tefzel
Registered trademark of the DuPont Company. Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), is a 150°C rated Fluoropolymer that can be used for insulation and jacket applications.

Temper
The softness of a metal; terms such as soft-drawn, dead soft, annealed, and semi-annealed are used to describe tempers used for conductor metals.

Temperature Rating
The maximum temperature at which the insulating material may be used in continuous operation with a loss of 50% of its original properties.

Tensile Set
The condition when a plastic material shows permanent deformation caused by a stress, after the stress is removed.

Tensile Strength
The pull stress required to break a given specimen.

Tension Member
A member included in a fiber cable to add tensile strength.

Terminals
Metal wire termination devices designed to handle one or more conductors and to be attached to a board bus or block with mechanical fasteners or clipped on

Test Lead
A flexible, insulated lead wire used for making tests, connecting instruments to a circuit temporarily or for making temporary electrical connections.

TEW
Canadian Standard Association type appliance wires. Solid or stranded single conductor, plastic-insulated. 600V, up to 105°C.

Textile Braid
Any braid made from threads of cotton, silk or synthetic fibers.

TFE
Tetrafluoroethylene. A thermoplastic material with good electrical insulating properties, chemical and heat resistance. Rated to 260°C.

Themal Shock
The resulting characteristics when a material is subjected to rapid and wide range changes in temperature in an effort to discover its ability to withstand heat and cold.

Thermal Aging
Exposure to a thermal condition or programmed series of conditions for predescribed periods of time.

Thermal Expansion
The expansion of a material when subjected to heat.

Thermal Rating
The maximum and/or minimum temperature at which a material will perform its function without undue degradation.

Thermal Resistance of a Cable
The resistance offered by the insulation to the flow of heat from the conductor(s) to the earth.

Thermocouple Lead Wire
An insulated pair of wires used from the couple to a junction box.

Thermocouple Wire
A two conductor cable with each conductor employing a dissimilar metal, made up specifically for temperature measurements.

Thermoplastic
A plastic material, a polymer, that becomes pliable or moldable above a specific temperature and solidifies upon cooling.

Thermoset
A material which hardens or sets when heat is applied and which, once set cannot be resoftened by heating. The application of heat is called “curing.”

Tinned Wire
Copper wire that has been coated with a layer of tin or solder to facilitate soldering.

Tinning
There are two types: Electrotinned and Hot-Dipped. Electrotinned is the process of electroplating the surface of a conductor material with a tin or tin-lead alloy. Hot-Dipped is the process of pulling the conductor material through a molten bath of the tin or tinlead alloy.

Tinsel
A type of electrical conductor comprised of a number of threads, each thread having a fine, flat ribbon of copper or other metal closely spiraled about it. Used for small size cables requiring flexibility and long flex life.

Tinsel Wire
A low voltage, stranded wire where each strand is very thin conductor ribbon spirally wrapped around a textile yarn.

Tolerance
A specified allowance for deviation from a standard dimension, weight or property.

Tracer
A marker in a cable often used as a means of identifying polarity.

Transmission
Transfer of electric energy from one location to another through conductors or by radiation or induction fields.

Transmission Loss
The decrease or loss in power during transmission of energy from one point to another. Usually expressed in decibels.

Transposition
Interchanging the relative positions of wires to neutralize the effects of induction to, or from other circuits or, to minimize interference pickup by the lead-in during reception.

Tray Cable
A factory-assembled multiconductor or multi-pair control cable approved under the National Electrical Code for installation in trays.

Triboelectric Noise
Noise generated in a shielded cable due to variations in capacitance between shielding and conductor as the cable is flexed.

True Concentric
A cable in which each successive layer has a reversed direction of lay from the preceding layer.

Tubing
A tube of extruded nonsupported plastic material

Twinner
A device for twisting together two conductors.

Twisted Pair
A cable composed of two insulated conductors, twisted together without a common covering.