Thermax | Glossary

Reactance - Opposition offered to the flow of alternating current by inductance or capacitance of a component or circuit.

Red Plague - A powdery red cuprous oxide growth sometimes found on silver coated copper conductors and shield braids. It is fungus-like in appearance and will appear in random spots along the length of a conductor or shield. It most often occurs at the point of crossover in a shield or in the interstices of a standard conductor. Proper design, manufacture and installation has largely eliminated this problem. Small amounts of water are required to initiate this reaction.

Resin - An organic substance of natural or synthetic origin characterized by being polymeric in structure and predominantly amorphous. Most resins, though not all are of high molecular structure. Usually resins are more soluble in their lower molecular weight forms.

RG/U - RG is the military designation for coaxial cable. The "U" stands for universal.

RMS - Abbreviation for root-mean-square. When the term is applied to alternating voltage and current it means the effective value; that is, it produces the same heating effect as a direct current or voltage of the same magnitude. It is also a means of expressing a-c voltage in terms of d-c. Usually approximately 80% of the a-c peak voltage.

Rope Concentric - A group of stranded conductors assembled in a concentric manner. The direction of lay of the outer rope members is usually left hand.

Rope-Lay Conductor or Cable - A cable composed of a central core surrounded by one or more layers of helically laid groups of wires. (Note: This kind of cable differs from a concentric-lay conductor in that the main strands are themselves stranded. In the most common type of rope-lay conductor or cable, all wires are of the same size and the central core is a concentric-lay conductor.)

SAE - Abbreviation for Society of Automotive Engineers.

Serving - A wrapping applied over the core of a cable or over a wire. Servings may be in the form of filaments, fibers, yarn, tape, etc.

Shield - A metallic layer placed around an insulated conductor or group of conductors to prevent electrostatic or electromagnetic interference between the enclosed wires and external fields. This shield can be braided or served wires, oil wrap, foil backed tape, a metallic tube, or conductive vinyl or rubber.

Shield Coverage - When a metallic braid of tinned or bare copper is applied over the insulated conductors, the shielding effectiveness is in proportion to the amount of optical coverage, usually expressed in percentage.

Shield Effectiveness - The relative ability of a shield to screen out interference.

Skin Effect - The phenomenon wherein the depth of penetration of electric currents into a conductor decreases as the frequency of the current increases.

Spark Test - A test performed on wire and cable to determine the amount of detrimental porosity (pin holes) or defects in the insulation.

Specific Gravity - The density (mass per unit volume) of any material divided by that of water at a standard temperature.

Splice - A connection of two or more conductors or cables to provided good mechanical strength as well as good conductivity.

Standing Wave Ratio - Peak amplitude (See Voltage Standing Wave Radio)

Surface Leakage - The passage of current over the boundary surfaces of an insulator as distinguished from passage through its volume.

Sweep Test - Pertaining to cable, checking the frequency response by generating an rf voltage, the frequency of which is varied back and forth through a given frequency range at a rapid constant rate while the results on an oscilloscope.

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