Wire & Cable
TURI publications related to the wire and cable industry
Environmentally Benign Resins and Additives, for Use in the Wire and Cable Industry. 2003.
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| TURI Technical Report No. 54. The explosion of the information age has led to a scramble to increase the infrastructure of data carrying capacity. The building industry has seen a large increase in the demand for new housing. The electronic market continues to grow at an astounding pace. All of these industries require insulating wire for use in their products. As the amount of wire products increase special attention must be paid to the impact which these products make on the environment. Lately attention has been focused on polyvinyl chloride or PVC. New legislation in places such as California and Europe have begun to regulate the use of substances that are common additives to PVC. This project proposes to research the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of using alternative resins to PVC in the wire and cable industry. Download PDF file (436.70 kB) |
Environmental Challenges and Materials Restrictions in Coated Wire and Cable. 2003
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| Paper presented at the NFPA Research Symposium, July 10, 2003. Download PDF file (160.13 kB) |
Environmental, Health and Safety Issues in the Coated Wire and Cable Industry. 2002.
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| TURI Technical Report No. 51. Environmental, health and safety concerns with the basic raw materials used in manufacturing coated wire and cable are driving innovation and change in the industry. These concerns include the life cycle impacts of heavy metals such as lead, brominated flame-retardants, and resin systems based on polyvinyl chloride. Seeking to help Massachusetts' wire and cable industry deal with the complex regulatory and technical issues, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at UMASS Lowell contracted the preparation of this background report. The report examines the sector's main environmental, health and safety issues, European and United States (U.S.) regulatory drivers, and the state of new materials development. The report also outlines a set of research and technology diffusion recommendations for the Institute and is meant to serve as an introduction and reference point for those in industry, government and academia concerned with wire and cable industry environmental, health and safety issues. Download PDF file (389.71 kB) |
Elimination of Acid and Lead on Wire Strand Annealing and Galvanizing, Riverdale Mills Corp. 2000.
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| TURI Technical Report No. 48. Requiring the addition of a new multi-wire strand galvanizing line to meet growing market demand, Riverdale Mills made the goals of toxics use reduction a large part of the operational requirements of the new line. The company sought to reduce or eliminate the chemicals conventionally used in the process, the byproducts generated and the energy required. These goals required the innovative re-thinking of a mature industrial process. Riverdale Mills chose an induction heating chamber for the annealing process, eliminating the use of lead in the conventional liquid lead annealing process. Following annealing, commercial hot-dip wire galvanizing operations typically use hydrochloric acid in a pickling process, and zinc ammonium chloride as a flux prior to immersion into the zinc bath. Modifying the annealing process and annealing within an inert atmosphere replaced both the pickling and the flux processes; these were replaced by an alkaline soap pre-wash and hot water rinse. Re-engineering the process to eliminate the need to re-heat the wire during processing achieved significant energy savings. Download PDF file (55.55 kB) |