Industry Terms / Glossary

• CBP – U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Duty Exemption – No duties on exports
• Duty Deferral – Duties and taxers are deferred on imports
• Exports – Merchandise that is forwarded from zone sites to foreign countries.
• Foreign Trade Zone – ‘FTZ’ included one or more restricted access sites to a CBP port of entry operated under sponsorship of a grantee authorized by the FTZ Board, with zone operations under the supervision of CBP.
• Foreign Trade Zones Board – ‘FTZ Board’ Consists of the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Treasury, or their designated alternates.
• Inverted Tariff – When zone production results in a finished product that has a lower duty rate than the imported component, the duty is paid based on the lower rate as opposed to the higher import rate.

For more information, please visit: https://enforcement.trade.gov/ftzpage/info/ftzstart.html

• Adhesive Lamination: A laminating process in which individual layers of multi-layer packaging materials are laminated to each other with an adhesive.
• Annealing: Technique of keeping a material for a period of time at a temperature short of melting, to relieve internal stresses; the application of heat to a formed or oriented plastic article to relieve stress resulting from the forming or orientation process.
• Blister Packaging: A package type where the item is secured between a pre-formed dome or “bubble” and a paperboard/flexible surface.
• Blocking: The undesired adhesion of two or more plies of material to the extent that surfaces become damaged or distorted, or the inks or coatings transfer from one surface to the other when adjacent layers are separated.
• Bursting strength:  Resistance of poly to rupture under pressure, as indicated in pounds per square inch on a Mullen tester.
• Butt splice:  An end to end joining of two similar materials.  For continuity of surface, design, etc.  Often used in joining stickyback, printing plates and webs of substrate in process such as heavy papers and boards at the unwind or rewind where the thickness or the substrate prohibits use of a lap (overlap) splice.
• Caliper: The thickness of sheet material expressed in “points” or mils (thousands of an inch). (see gauge)
• Carton-board: a paperboard that is used to make folding boxes or cartons.
• Co-extrusion: Two or more polymers extruded and combined in a die, each forming a distinct layer in the final film.
• Coating:  An emulsion, varnish or lacquer applied over a printed surface to protect it. Alt:  The outer covering of a film or web. The film may be one side coated or two sides coated.
• Coefficient of Friction (C.O.F.): The amount of slip exhibited when one surface is dragged against an adjacent surface. Static COF is the force required to begin the structure moving. Kinetic COF is the force required to maintain structure movement at the test pull speed. Hi Slip = less than 0.2, Medium Slip = .2 – .5, Low Slip = more than 0.5 (kinetic). Commonly referred to as the “slipperiness” of plastic films and laminates.
• Converter:  Refers to that type of manufacturer which processes raw packaging stock such as cellophane, foil, etc. into a more advanced state, generally by forming, printing, gluing, laminating, etc.
• Cross direction:  In paper, the direction across the grain.  Paper is weaker and more sensitive to changes in relative humidity in the cross direction than the grain direction.
• Cross-Linking: A process which binds the polymer chains into a network. Significantly increasing a films heat stability and strength.
• Cure or Curing: 1) Conversion by chemical reaction of a wet coating or printing ink film to a solid film.  2) Also refers to the addition of a catalyst.
• Curl: The tendency of a paper sheet to curl as humidity conditions change due to the hygroexpansive nature of paper. A paper sheet that is identical in construction on each side will expand and contract as humidity changes with little tendency to curl. However if the sheet is printed, varnished, or laminated to a plastic film or a foil, then the two sides will have different expansion and contraction rates and the paper will curl as the humidity changes from the conditions when the printing, varnishing or laminating were done. The greater the humidity difference, the greater the curl.
• De-lamination: separations or splitting, usually caused by lack of adequate or sufficient adhesion in laminating or plied goods.
• Dead Fold: Fold in packaging material which will remain in place without sealing, as in the case of folds made in soft lead foil or aluminum foil.
• Destruct Bond: A strong bond of two materials where if one attempts to pull the two apart a destruction of one of the materials will occur. The bonding agent is stronger than the materials bonded together.
• Doctor blade:  In gravure and flexography, a knife-edge blade pressed against the engraved printing cylinder that wipes away the excess ink from the non-printing areas. Alt:  Thin flexible steel blade that passes over a cylinder, wiping off excess ink before impression is made on paper.  In the pressroom, refers to the entire assembly consisting of blade, doctor blade holder, and all necessary adjusting and loading devices.
• Drawdown: A swatch of color or coating made by spreading a small amount of ink or varnish across a sheet of material. Made for visual comparison to a standard color swatch or chip.
• Elongation:  Longitudinal deformation resulting from stress, from stretching.
• Engraving:  A general term normally applied to any pattern which has been cut in or incised in a surface by hand, mechanical or etching processes.
• Extrusion:  The production of a continuous sheet or film (or other shapes not connected with flexography) by forcing hot thermoplastic material through a die or orifice.
• Extrusion coating:  A process whereby a substrate is coated by extrusion, normally plastic such as polyethylene; extrusion laminating.
• Extruder: A machine that makes stretch film. It consists of a large steel barrel surrounded by heaters, which melt the plastic resin pellets. Inside of the barrel is a large screw to force the liquid plastic under pressure through a die to be made into plastic sheeting by either the cast or blown processes.
• Extrusion Lamination: A laminating process in which individual layers of multi-layer packaging materials are laminated to each other by extruding a thin layer of molten synthetic resin (such as polyethylene) between the layers.
• Film:  Unsupported, basically organic, nonfibrous, thin, flexible material of a thickness not exceeding 0.010 inch.  Such material in excess of 0.0100 inch in thickness is usually called “sheeting”.
• Foil (AL): A rolled product rectangular in cross section of thickness less than 0.006” (152 microns). For foil packaging applications, the lightest commercially available gauge is 0.000236” (6 microns).
• Gas Chromatography: An instrumental method of accurately determining the composition of volatile solvents and oils, and their residual presence in materials such as laminates or plastics.
• Gas Transmission Rate (GTR): The quantity of a given gas passing through a unit area of the parallel surfaces of a film, sheet, or laminate in a given time under the test conditions. Test conditions may vary and must always be stated.
• Gauge: Thickness. In North America, film thickness, measured in mils, is usually given in gauges. A 100 gauge shrink film is one mil, or 1/1000 of an inch, thick. In Europe, the film thickness metric is the micron. A quick equivalency equation is: 1 mil = 25.4 microns.
• Gauge Band: A thickness irregularity found in rolls of film. A thicker area in the machine direction at some location across the width of a flat film will produce a raised ring in a finished roll. Gauge bands can cause winding problems and when unwound, the material tends not to be perfectly flat.
• Gas Transmission: The movement of gas, air, oxygen, etc., through a film material. The gas transmission property (permeability) of a film is measured in terms of the volume of gas (at standard temperature and pressure) transmitted through a given area of film of a given thickness, within a given time.
• Gravure Printing: (Rotogravure). With gravure printing an image is etched on the surface of a metal plate, the etched area is filled with ink, then the plate is rotated on a cylinder that transfers the image to the film or other material. Gravure is abbreviated from Rotogravure. Gravure printing is ideal for printing in long runs and contributes to higher printing speeds. Gives excellent reproduction of detail to the image printed.
• Grain direction:  The direction taken by a majority of the fibers in any sheet of paper.  Synonymous with “machine direction”, the opposite of “cross direction”.
• Heat Seal Coating: A coating on a material, which allows that material to be laminated to a second material with a surface that when heat is applied the two materials will bond together.
• Hermetic Seal: Airtight or impervious to gases or fluids under normal conditions of handling and storage.
• Hygroscopic:  The ability of a material to absorb or otherwise take up moisture from the surroundings.
• Mil: Thickness of material: The higher the mil, the stronger the material. (1/1000 inch = 1 mil)
• Mullen Test: Measurement of bursting strength of paper and paperboard, in pounds per square inch. A relatively simple machine, either motor-driven or hand-operated, applies increasing pressure to one square inch of the sample until it ruptures.
• MVTR: Moisture vapor transmission rate, usually measured at 100% relative humidity, expressed in grams/100 square inches/24 hours, (or grams/square meter/24 Hrs.)
• Machine direction:  Same as grain direction in paper.
• Machine finish:  The finish applied on the paper machine.  The finish is commonly referred to as M.F.
• Machine glazed:  (M.G.) The finish produced in glaze on the wire side of a sheet as it is passed in contact over a single, large diameter, steam-heated cylinder on the Yankee Machine.  The finish is commonly referred to as M.G.
• Micrometer:  Instrument used to measure the thickness of different substrates.
• Metamerism:  A condition when colors match under one light source, but do not match under another light source.
• Moisture content:  The percentage of water in a finished material such as film or paper, expressed as percent of original weight of the test samples.
• OD: Outside diameter.
• OTR: Oxygen transmission rate. OTR of plastic materials varies considerably with humidity, therefore it needs to be specified. Standard conditions of testing are 0, 60 or 100% relative humidity. Units are cc./100 square inches/24 hours, (or cc/square meter/24 Hrs.) (cc = cubic centimeters)
• Pallet: a portable, horizontal, rigid platform used as a base for assembling, storing, stacking, handling and transporting goods as a unit load. A pallet typically contains a raised superstructure that allows it to be lifted and moved by a forklift without damaging any cases.
• Paperboard: A heavyweight thick sheet of paper, usually a thickness of 0.06″ or over.
• Pinholing: The term for very small holes found in aluminum foil which dramatically affects MVTR (moisture vapor transmission rate) and OTR (oxygen transmission rate). Thicker foils have fewer pinholes.
• PMS Number: The Pantone® Matching System is the universally accepted color definition system. Colors can be blended or individually specified to match a specified Pantone reference color exactly.
• Porosity: The property of paper that allows the permeation of air, an important factor in ink penetration.
• Printability:  The ability of a paper or substrate to produce an acceptable printed image, as distinguished from runnability, which deals only with the substrate’s ability to pass mechanically through the press.
• Seal Strength: Measurement of force required to break or destroy a heat seal formed by any of the heat sealing sheets.
• Sheeting: The cutting of a large master roll into sheets.
• Slitting: The conversion of a given width of substrate into narrower widths. Web stock is unrolled past a series of knives set to the correct widths, and the slit web is rewound back into roll form.
• Slitter: A machine to cut a roll of stock in the long direction.
• Splice: Joining two pieces of web material to form a continuous web.
• Telescoping:  Transverse slipping of successive winds of a roll of material so that the edge is conical rather than flat.
• Tensile strength:  The maximum load in tension that a material can withstand without failure.
• Threading: The placing of a web material through the various rolls and stations of any web-fed press such as a printer or laminator in preparation for production.
• Web: A continuous length of paper film, foil, or other flexible material as it is unwound from a roll and passed through a machine.
• WVTR: Water vapor transmission rate, usually measured at 100% relative humidity, expressed in grams/100 square inches/24 hours, (or grams/square meter/24 Hrs.)

• EAA: Ethylene acrylic acid copolymer. Because of its excellent adhesion to aluminum foil, it is mostly used for extrusion lamination of foil to other surfaces.
• Extrusion Lamination: A laminating process in which individual layers of multi-layer packaging materials are laminated to each other by extruding a thin layer of molten synthetic resin (such as polyethylene) between the layers.
• EVA: Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate copolymer. Much softer and clearer than LDPE or LLDPE and has lower melt temperature. Its melt temperature goes down, while its softness increases with increasing vinyl acetate (VA) content. EVA resins with 2-18% VA content are used for cast and blown packaging films.
• EVOH: Ethylene-Vinyl Alcohol copolymer, used in coextruded plastic films to improve oxygen barrier properties. It is, however, a poor water vapor barrier. Even its otherwise excellent OTR, (oxygen transmission rate) is sensitive to high humidity, therefore, for packaging applications, it is usually the core layer of coextruded plastic films, where it is shielded from moisture by protective layers of polyethylene. Its OTR also depends on its VOH (vinyl alcohol) content.
• HDPE: High density, (0.95-0.965) polyethylene. Has much higher stiffness, higher temperature resistance and much better water vapor barrier properties than LDPE, but it is considerably hazier.
• LDPE: Low density, (0.92-0.934) polyethylene. Used mainly for heatsealability and bulk in packaging.
• LLDPE: Linear low density polyethylene. Tougher than LDPE and has better heatseal strength, but has higher haze.
• MDPE: Medium density, (0.934-0.95) polyethylene. Has higher stiffness, higher melting point and better water vapor barrier properties.
• MET-PET: Metallized PET film. It has all the good properties of PET film, plus much improved oxygen and water vapor barrier properties. However, it is not transparent.
• MET-OPP: Metallized OPP film. It has all the good properties of OPP film, plus much improved oxygen and water vapor barrier properties, (but not as good as MET-PET).
• Nylon: Polyamide resins, with very high melting points, excellent clarity and stiffness. Two types are used for films: nylon-6 and nylon-66. The latter has much higher melt temperature, thus better temperature resistance, but the former is easier to process, and it is cheaper. Both have good oxygen and aroma barrier properties, but they are poor barriers to water vapor. Also, nylon films can be cast (see CAN), or oriented, (see BON).
• OPP: Oriented PP (polypropylene) film. A stiff, high clarity film, but not heatsealable. Usually combined with other films, (such as LDPE) for heatsealability. Can be coated with PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride), or metallized for much improved barrier properties.
• PP: Polypropylene. Has much higher melting point, thus better temperature resistance than PE. Two types of PP films are used for packaging: cast, (see CAPP) and oriented (see OPP).
• PE: Polyethylene, depending on its density, it may be low density (see LDPE). medium density (see MDPE). or high density, (see HDPE).
• PET: Polyester, (Polyethylene Terephtalate). Tough, temperature resistant polymer. Biaxially oriented PET film is used in laminates for packaging, where it provides strength, stiffness and temperature resistance. It is usually combined with other films for heat sealability and improved barrier properties.
• PET-G Shrink Films: Polyethylene Terephtalate Glycol shrink film. The most expensive shrink film for full body shrink sleeves, but clear, glossy, strong, and most recyclable. The highest shrink percentage available is about 75%, so this film is often required when the container has a narrow waist or neck.
• PVC: Polyvinyl chloride. A tough, stiff, very clear film. The oriented version is used mainly for shrink film applications.
• PVDC: Polyvinylidene chloride. A very good oxygen and water vapor barrier, but not extrudable, therefore it is found primarily as a coating to improve barrier properties of other plastic films, (such as OPP and PET) for packaging. PVDC coated and ‘saran’ coated are the same.

• Abrasion Resistance: Ability of material or cable to resist surface wear.
• Age Hardening: An aging process that results I increased strength and hardness.
• Aging: Precipitation from solid solution resulting in a change in properties of an alloy, usually occurring slowly at room temperature (natural aging) and more rapidly at elevated temperatures.
• Alternating Current: An electric current that continually reverses its direction giving a definite plus and minus wave form at fixed intervals.
• Alternating Current Resistance: The resistance offered by any circuit to the flow of alternating current.
• Ambient Temperature: Any all-encompassing temperature within a given area.
• American Wire Gage (AWG): The standard system used for designating wire diameter. Also referred to as the Brown and Sharpe (B&S) wire gage.
• Ampacity: (See current-carrying capacity).
• Anneal: To subject to heat with subsequent cooling. When annealing copper; the act of softening the metal by means of heat to render it less brittle.
• Annealed aluminum foil: Foil completely softened by thermal treatment.
• Anti-Oxidant: A substance which prevents or slows down oxygen decomposition of a material.
• Anti-Ozonant: A substance which prevents or slows down material degradation due to ozone reaction.
• Armor: Mechanical protection usually accomplished by a metallic layer of tape, braid or served wires. Normally found only over the outer sheath.
• Armored Cable: A cable provided with a wrapping of metal, usually steel wires, flat tapes, or interlocked tapes, primarily for the purpose of mechanical protection.
• ASTM: Abbreviation for American Society for Testing and Materials.
• AWG: Abbreviation for American Wire Gage, a standard system used for designating wire diameter. Also referred to as the Brown and Sharpe (B&S) wire gage.
• B&S Gage: Brown and Sharpe wire gage used for copper conductor (same as American Wire Gage).
• Binder: A helically applied tape or thread used for holding assembled cable components in place until additional manufacturing operations are performed.
• Blister: A raised spot on the surface of the metal or film caused by expansion of a gas in a subsurface zone.
• Block Marks: Short longitudinal scratches introduce during rewinding of sheet or foil
• Boot: A protective covering over any portion of a cable or conductor in addition to its jacket or insulation.
• Braid: A fibrous or metallic group of filaments interwoven in cylindrical form to form a covering over oneor more wires.
• Breakdown (Puncture): A disruptive discharge through insulation due to failure under electrostatic stress.
• Breakdown Voltage: The voltage at which the insulation between two conductors, or a conductor and ground will break down.
• Broken Matte Finish: An uneven finish on the matting surfaces of pack-rolled foil.
• Broken Surface: A surface having innumerable minute cracks running normal to the direction of working.
• Buckle: A distortion of the surface of sheet such as a bulge or wave.
• Building Wire: Wire used for light and power in permanent installations utilizing 600 volts or less. Usually in an enclosure and which will not be exposed to outdoor environments.
• Bunch Stranding: A method of stranding where a single conductor is formed from any number of wires twisted together in the same direction, such that all strands have the same lay length, but no specific geometric arrangement.
• Butt Joint: A splice or connection formed by placing the ends of two conductors together and joining them by welding, brazing or soldering.
• Butt Wrap: Tape wrapped in an edge: to -edge manner with no over-lapping between adjacent turns.
• Cable Core: A cable core is the portion of an insulated cable lying under the protective covering or coverings.
• Cable Filler: The material used in multiple conductor cables to occupy the spaces formed by the assembly of components, thus forming a core of the desired shape.
• Capacitance (Capacity): That property of a system of conductors and dielectrics which permits the storage of electricity when potential difference exists between the conductors.
• Capacitive Coupling: Electrical interaction between two conductors caused by the capacitance between them.
• Capillary Action: The phenomenon of liquid rising in a small interstice due to surface tension.
• Carbon Black: A black pigment. It imparts useful ultraviolet protective properties, and so is frequently suspended into plastic and elastomeric compounds intended for outside weather exposure.
• Charging Current: The current produced when a d-c voltage is first applied to conductors of an unterminated cable. It is caused by the capacitive reactance of the cable, and decreases exponentially with time.
• Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE): A synthetic rubber jacketing compound.
• Chlorosulfonated Polyethylene (CSPE): A synthetic rubber jacketing compound manufactured by Du Pont under trade name of Hypalon.
• Circular Mil: A unit of area equal to the area of a circle whose diameter is 1 mil (0.001 inch). Used chiefly in specifying cross-sectional areas of round conductors.
• Coating: A material applied to the surface of a conductor to prevent environmental deterioration, facilitate soldering or improve electrical performance.
• Coating Blister: A blister in the coating of an film laminated to foil.
• Cold Flow: Any permanent deformation due to pressure or mechanical force, without the aid of eat softening.
• Cold Joint: A soldered joint made with insufficient heat.
• Cold Test: Any test to determine the performance of cables during or after subjection to a specified low temperature for a specified time.
• Cold Work: The hardening and embrittlement of metal by repeated flexing action.
• Color Code: A color system for circuit identification by use of solid colors tracers, braids surface Printing, etc.
• Compact Stranded Conductor: A unidirectional or conventional concentric conductor manufactured to a specified diameter, approximately 8 to 10% below the nominal diameter of a noncompact conductor of the same cross-sectional area.
• Concentricity: In a wire or cable, the measurement of the location of the center of the conductor with respect to the geometric center of the circular insulation.
• Concentric: lay Conductor: Conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by one or more layers of helically laid wires. Several types are as follows:
• Concentric Stranding: A method of stranding, wherein a single conductor is formed from a central wire surrounded by one or more layers of helically layed wires. Each layer is applied with an opposite direction of lay. The first layer has six wires, and each additional layer has six more wires than does the previous one. Thus the second layer has twelve wires, the third layer has eighteen wires, etc.
• Conductivity: A term used in describing the capability of a material to carry an electrical charge. Usually expressed as a percentage of copper conductivity -: copper being one hundred (100%) percent. Conductivity is expressed for a standard configuration of conductor.
• Conductor: A wire or combination of wires not insulated from one another, suitable for carrying an electric current.
• Conductor Core: The center strand or member about which one of more layers of wires or members are laid helically to form a concentric-lay or rope-lay conductor.
• Compact round conductor: A conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by one o rmore layers of helically laid wires and formed into final shape by rolling, drawing, or other means.
• Conventional concentric conductor: Conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by one or more layers of helically laid wires. The direction of lay is reversed in successive layers and generally with an increase in length of lay for successive layers.
• Continuous Vulcanization: Simultaneous extrusion and vulcanization of wire coating materials. It is abbreviated CV.
• Contrahelical: A term meaning the application of two or more layers of spirally twisted, served, or wrapped materials where each successive layer is wrapped in the opposite direction to the preceding layer.
• Cord: Small, flexible insulated cable usually size l0AWG or smaller.
• Core: Any portion of a cable over which some other cable component, such as a shield, jacket, sheath or armor, is applied.
• Corona: A luminous discharge due to ionization of the gas surrounding a conductor around which exists a voltage gradient exceeding a certain critical value.
• Corona Resistance: The time that insulation will withstand a specified level field-intensified ionization that does not result in the immediate complete breakdown of the insulation. Also called voltage endurance.
• Corona Test: A test to determine the ability of a cable to withstand the formation of corona under an increasing applied voltage, and to extinguish corona when a corona-producing voltage is reduced.
• Crazing: Minute lines appearing in or near the surface of materials, such as ceramics and plastics usually resulting as a response to environment. Crazing cannot be felt by running a fingernail across it. If the fingernail catches, it is a crack, not crazing.
• Creep: The dimensional change with time of a material under load. At room temperature, it is sometimes called cold flow.
• Creepage: Electrical leakage on a solid dielectric surface.
• Crimp Termination: A wire termination that is applied by physical pressure of terminal to wire.
• Cross Linking: The establishment of chemical bonds between polymer molecule chains. It may be accomplished by heat, vulcanization, irradiation or the addition of a suitable chemical agent.
• Cross Sectional Area: The area of the cut surface of an object cut at right angles to the length of the object.
• Cross Sectional Area of a Conductor: The sum of cross sectional areas of all the individual wires composing the conductor. It is generally expressed in circular mils.
• Crush Resistance Test: A test to determine the ability of a cable to resist damage from radial compression, such as might be encountered in service.
• Cure: (See Vulcanization.)
• Current-carrying Capacity: The maximum current an insulated conductor or cable can continuously carry without exceeding its temperature rating. It is also called ampacity.
• Cut-through: Resistance of solid material to penetration by an object under conditions of pressure, temperature, etc.
• Cut-through Resistance: The ability of a given material to withstand penetration by a solid object of specified dimensions and weight, which is permitted to free fall onto this material from a specified height.
• CV (Continuous Vulcanization): Simultaneous extrusion and vulcanization of wire coating materials.
• Cycle: One complete sequence of variations in an alternating current. The number of cycles occurring in one second is called the frequency.
• Decibel: Unit to express differences of power level. It is used to express power loss in cables.
• Delamination: Separation of two substrates, example film from metal.
• Density: The weight per unit volume of a substance.
• Derating Factor: A factor used to reduce a current carrying capacity of a wire when used in other environments from that for which the value was established.
• Dielectric breakdown: The voltage at which a dielectric material is punctured; which is divisible by thickness to give dielectric strength.
• Dielectric Constant: That property (K) of an insulating material which is the ratio of the parallel capacitance (C) of a given configuration of electrodes with the material as the dielectric, to the capacitance of the same electrode configuration with a vacuum as the dielectric.
• Dielectric Strength: The voltage which an insulating material can withstand before breakdown occurs, usually expressed as a voltage gradient (such as volts per mil).
• Dielectric Tests: 1). Tests which consist of the application of a voltage higher than the rated voltage for a specified time for the purpose of determining the adequacy against breakdown of insulating materials and spacings under normal conditions. 2). The testing of insulating materials by application of constantly increasing voltage until failure occurs.
• Direction of Lay: The lateral direction, designated as left-hand or right-hand, in which the wires of a member or units of a conductor run over the top of the member or conductor as they recede from an observer looking along the axis of the member or conductor.
• Dissipation: Unusable or lost energy, as the production of unused heat in a circuit.
• Drain Wire: An uninsulated wire, usually placed directly beneath and in electrical contact with a grounded shield, which is used for making ground connections.
• Drawing: In the manufacture of wire, pulling the metal through a die or series of dies for reduction of diameter to specified size.
• Dropped Edge or Deflection: A continuous downward edge deflection on foil or coated foil.
• Duct Sheet: Coil or flat sheet in specific tempers, widths and thickness, suitable for duct applications.
• Durometer: A measurement used to denote the hardness of a substance (usually of thermosetting and thermoplastic materials).
• Eccentricity: A measure of the lack of coincidence of longitudinal axes of a circular cross-sectional wire and its surrounding circular cross-sectional insulation. It is expressed as the percentage ratio of the distance between wire and insulation centers to the difference between wire and insulation radii.
• Elastic Deformation: A change in a substance whereby it reverts to its original dimensions on release of an applied stress.
• Elastomer: A material that at room temperature returns rapidly to approximately its initial dimensions and shape after substantial deformation by a weak stress and release of the stress.
• Electrical Conductivity: The capacity of a material to conduct electric current.
• Electrical Resistivity: The electrical resistance of a body of unit length and unit cross-sectional area or unit weight.
• Elongation: The fractional increase in length of a material stressed in tension.
• Embossing: A means of marker identification by means of thermal indentation leaving raised lettering on the sheath material of cable.
• Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance: The ability of a material to resist crack formation and crack propagation when subjected to stress within a contaminating environment.
  
• Equilay Conductor: Conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by more than one layer of helically laid wires, all layers having a common length of lay, direction of lay being reversed successive layers.
• Ethylene Propylene Rubber: A synthetic rubber insulation based upon ethylene propylene hydrocarbon.
  
• Extrusion:The process of continuously forcing either a plastic or elastomer and a conductor or core through a die, thereby applying
• an insulation or jacket to the conductor or core.
• Fatigue Resistance:The ability of a repeatedly deformed material to resist crystallization and accompanying failure.
  
• Fault Current: The maximum electrical current that will flow in a short-circuited system prior to the actuation of any current-limiting device. It is far in excess of normal current flow and is limited only by a system’s generating capacity and a cable’s impedence.
  
• Fibrous Filler: A material used to fill interstices in cables made from fibers, such as jute, polypropylene, cotton, glass, etc.
  
• Filler: Any material used in multiconductor cables to occupy interstices between insulated conductors or form a core into a desired shape (usually circular). Also, any substance, often inert, added to a plastic or elastomer to improve its properties or decrease its cost.
  
• Film: Thin, plastic sheeting having nominal thickness usually not greater than 0.010 inch.
  
• Flame Resistance: The ability of a burning material to extinguish its own flame, once its flameinitiating heat source is removed.
  
• Flame Retardance: Ability of a material to prevent the spread of combustion by a low rate of travel so the flame will not be conveyed.
  
• Flexing Test: Any test to determine the ability of a cable to withstand repeated bending and twisting.
  
• Flex Life: The number of bends or twists, of specified type, that a cable will withstand before failure.
• Gauge: The thickness of a wrought product.
• Gouge: A gross scratch or dent.
• Ground: A conducting connection, intentional or accidental, between an electric circuit or equipment and the earth or some conducting body serving in place of the earth.
  
• Ground Potential: Zero potential with respect to the ground or earth.
  
• Grounded Neutral: A circuit operates with grounded neutral when the neutral is metallically connected to ground and there is a provision for immediate removal of a faulted element.
  
• Grounding Conductor: A conductor used to connect equipment or the grounded circuit of a wiring system to a grounding electrode or electrodes; usually colored green.
• Hardener: An alloy containing at least some aluminum and one or more added chemicals for use in making alloy additions to molten aluminum.
• Hardness: Resistance of plastic deformation usually by indentation.  Brinnel Hardness:   Aluminum alloys is obtained by measuring permanent impression of material by a ball indenter.  For steel this test is call Rockwell Harness.
• Hard-drawn Wire: As applied to aluminum and copper, wire that has been cold drawn to final size so as to approach the maximum strength obtainable.
  
• Heat Endurance: The time of heat aging that a material can withstand before failing a specific physical or electrical test.
  
• Heat Resistance:Ability of a substance to maintain physical and chemical identity and chemical identity and electrical integrity under specified temperature conditions.
  
• Heat Shock:A test to determine stability of a material by sudden exposure to a high temperature for a short period of time.
• Heat Treat: Heating and cooling a solid metal or alloy in such a way as to obtain desired conditions or properties.
• Helix: A spiral winding.
  
• Hertz (Abbrev. H): A term rapidly replacing cycles-per-second as an indication of frequency.
• High Voltage Time Test:A high-voltage time test is an accelerated life test on a cable sample in which voltage is the factor increased.
  
• Hygroscopic:Attracting or absorbing moisture from the ambient atmosphere.
  
• Hypalon:Du Pont trademark for chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSPE) synthetic rubber.
• ICEA:Insulated Cable Engineers Association (Formerly lPCEA). An Association of Engineers of most cable manufacturers.
  
• Ingot: A cast form suitable for re-melting or fabricating.
• Irradiation:The exposure of a material to high energy emissions. In insulations for the purpose of favorably altering the molecular structure. Excessive exposure can be detrimental to the physical and electrical properties.
• Jacket: A material covering over a wire insulation or an assembly of components, usually an extruded plastic or elastomer.
  
• Jumper: A short length of conductor used to make a connection between terminals, around a break in a circuit, or around an instrument.
• Lap Splice: A permanent joint formed in a short overlapping region of two parallel conductors or tapes. Also called parallel splice.
  
• Lay: The distance along a cable occupied by one complete helix of a strand or conductor. The direction of lay (left or right hand) is the direction of the helix looking away from an observer. Also to arrange the wires or members of a conductor either by twisting them or by forming them into one or more layers helically applied.
  
• Length of Lay: The axial length of one turn of the helix of a wire or member.
• Marker Tape: A narrow strip of fabric, paper or plastic laid longitudinally within a cable; it bears printed information such as the specification to which the cable was made and the name of the cable’s manufacturer.
  
• Marker Threads: Colored strings laid parallel and adjacent to the strands of an insulated conductor to reveal information such as the conductor’s manufacturer, the specification to which it was made, or its thermal capability.
  
• Messenger Wire: A metallic supporting member either solid or stranded which may also perform the function of a conductor.
  
• Migration: The loss of plasticizer from a plastic, usually due to heat or aging. It is undesirable since it will make the plastic hard and brittle. It is also called leaching.
  
• Mil: Unit of measure equal to 1/1000 of an inch.
  
• Mining Cable: A flame retardant cable especially constructed to withstand rough handling and exposure to moisture for underground use in the environment of a mine or tunnel, or surface use where exposed to sunlight and extremes of temperature.
  
• Moisture Absorption: The amount of water that an insulation or jacket, which is initially dry, will absorb under specified conditions. It is expressed as the percentage ration of the absorbed water’s weight to the weight of the jacket or insulation alone.
  
• NEMA Standards: Property values adopted as standard by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
  
• Neoprene: Trade name for polychloroprene, used for jacketing (See Polychloroprene).
  
• Nitrile Rubber: A rubbery copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile. It is usually compounded and vulcanized.
  
• Nominal: Name or identifying value of a measurable property by which a conductor or component or property of a conductor is identified, and to which tolerances are applied.
  
• Nordel: Du Pont trademark for EPDM synthetic rubber.
  
• Oxygen Bomb Test: A test to determine the ability of conductors and insulations to withst and physical and electrical change when immersed in pure oxygen gas of specified temperature and pressure for a specified time.
  
• Plastic: Any solid material employing organic matter of a high molecular weight as a principal constituent, which can be shaped by heat and pressure during manufacturing or processing into a finished article.
  
• Plasticizer: A substance incorporated into a material to increase its workability or flexibility.
  
• Plating: Any thin metallic coating applied over a metallic substratum.
  
• Pinholes: Minute holes in foil.
• Polychloroprene: Chemical name for neoprene A rubber-like compound used for jacketing where wire and cable will be subject to rough usage, moisture, oil, greases, solvents and chemicals.
  
• Polyester: A resin generally used as a thin film in tape form.
  
• Polyethylene: A thermoplastic material composed of polymers of ethylene.
  
• Polymer: A material formed by the chemical combination of monomers having either the same or different chemical composition.
  
• Polypropylene: A thermoplastic polymer of propylene.
  
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): A thermoplastic material composed of polymers of vinyl chloride, which may be rigid or elastomeric, depending on specific formulation.
  
• Pothead: An insulator used in making a sealed joint between an underground cable and an overhead line.
  
• Potting: Applying a hydrostatic seal and mechanical reinforcement by means of a thermosetting liquid, which cures either at room temperature or at a slightly elevated temperature.
• Quad: A structural unit employed in cables, consisting of four separately insulated conductors twisted together.
  
• Reroll: A semi-finished rolled metal product.
• Resistance: Property of a conductor that opposed the current flow produced by a given difference of potential. The ohm is the practical unit of resistance.
  
• Rope-lay conductor: Conductor constructed of a bunch-stranded or a concentric-stranded member or members, as a central core, around which are laid one or more helical layers of such members.
  
• Rubber: A material that is capable of recovering from large deformations quickly and forcibly, and can be, or already is, modified to a state in which it is essentially insoluble (but can swell) in boiling solvent.
  
• Rupture: In the breaking strength or tensile strength tests the point at which a material physically comes apart as opposed to yield strength, elongation, etc.
• Screen: (See Shield.)
  
• Secondary Insulation: Any extremely high resistance material which is placed over primary insulation to protect it from abrasion.
  
• Semi-conductor: A solid material characterized by comparatively high resistivities.
  
• Serve: Any helical wrapping applied over a wire or cable core. It may consist of wires, fibers, yarns or tapes.
  
• Served Wire Shield: A barrier to the passage of interference formed by a helical wrapping of wires over a cable core. It is also called spiral shield.
  
• Sheath: The material, usually an extruded plastic or elastomer, applied outermost to a wire or cable. Very often referred to as a jacket, or an impervious metal covering usually lead.
  
• Shield: Any barrier to the passage of interference: causing electrostatic or electromagnetic fields, formed by a conductive layer surrounding a cable core. It is usually fabricated from a metallic braid, foil or wire serving.
• Shield Coverage: The amount of cable core surface area which is covered by a shield. It is expressed as a percentage of the cable core’s total surface area. It is also called braid coverage when applied to a braided shield.
• Shielding: The practice of confining the electrical field around a conductor to the primary insulation of the cable by putting a conducting layer over and/or under the insulation. (External shielding is a conducting layer on the outside of the insulation. Strand or internal shielding is a conducting layer over the conductor itself).
• Skeleton Braid: A braid of widely separated wires or fibers, used to reinforce a jacket, bind a cable core, or prevent the passage of electrostatic or electromagnetic fields.
• Soft Wire: Wire that has been drawn or rolled to final size and then heated to remove the effects of cold working.
• Spark Test: A test designed to locate pin-holes in an insulated wire by application of an electrical potential across the material for a very short period of time while the wire is drawn through an electrode field.
• Specific Dielectric Strength: The dielectric strength per millimeter of thickness of an insulating material.
• Specific Gravity: The density (mass per unit volume) of any material divided by that of water at a standard temperature.
• Specific Inductance Capacitance: That property of a dielectric material which determines how much electrostatic energy can be stored per unit volume when unit voltage is applied.
• Specific Resistance: The resistance of a unit conductor having a length of one foot and acrosssectional area of one circular mil.
• Spiral Wrap: A term given to describe the helical wrap of a tape or thread over a core.
• Splice: A joint used for connecting two lengths of conductor or cable with good mechanical strength as well as good conductivity.
• Stabilizer: Any ingredient added to plastics to preserve their physical and chemical properties.
• Static: Electrical discharges in the atmosphere such as lightning, corona, etc.
• Strand: One of the wires of any stranded conductor.
• Stranded Conductor: A conductor composed of a group of wires, usually twisted, or of any combination of such groups of wires.
• Strand Lay: The distance of advance of one strand of a spirally stranded conductor, in one turn, measured axially.
• Stress Cone: A conical section built up of insulating tapes or a pennant to relieve the stress at the terminal end of the cable.
• Shear Strength: The maximum stress that a material is capable of sustaining in shear.
• Splice: The end joint uniting two webs.
• Strain Hardening: Modification of a metal structure by cold working, resulting in an increase in strength and hardness with loss of ductility.
• Tank Test: A voltage dielectric test where the specimen to be tested is submerged in a liquid (usually water) and a voltage potential applied between the conductor and the liquid as ground.
• Tape Wrap: A term denoting a spirally or longitudinally applied tape material wrapped around the wire, either insulated or uninsulated, used as an insulation or mechanical barrier.
• Tear Strength: The force required to initiate or continue a rip in a jacket or other insulation under specified conditions.
• Temperature Rating: The maximum temperature at which a given insulation or jacket may be safely maintained during continuous use, without incurring any thermally-induced deterioration.
• Tensile Strength: The longitudinal stress required to break a specimen of prescribed dimension divided by the original cross-sectional area at the point of rupture (usually expressed in pounds per square inch).
• Termination: 1). The load connected to the output end of a transmission line. 2). The provisions for ending a transmission line and connecting to a bus bar or other terminating device.
• Thermal Conductivity: Ability of material to conduct heat.
• Thermal Endurance: The time in hours at a selected temperature for an insulating material or system of material or system of materials to deteriorate to some predetermined level of electrical, mechanical, or chemical performance under prescribed conditions of test.
• Thermal Expansion (Coefficient of): The fractional change in length (sometimes volume) of a material for a unit change in temperature.
• Thermal Rating: The maximum and/or minimum temperature at which a material will perform its function without undue degradation.
• Thermoplastic: A classification of resin that can be readily softened and reformed by heating and be rehardened by cooling.
• Thermoset: 1). To cure through chemical reaction by heat to a point of not being resoftened by subsequent heating. 2). A resin which cures by chemical reaction.
• Tinned Wire: Copper wire that has been coated during manufacture with a layer of tin or solder to prevent corrosion or facilitate soldering.
• Tolerance: A specified allowance for error from a standard or given dimension, weight or property.
• TPR: A trade name for thermoplastic rubber.
• Transverse Bow: Curvature across the width of a sheet of foil or metal.
• Triad: Any grouping of three conductors or three assemblages of conductors, generally twisted together and found within a cable.
• Trim Inclusion: Edge trimming accidentally wound into a roll of foil.
• Triplex: Three single conductors twisted together, usually three single conductor cables twisted without over-all covering. Do not use for three conductors laid parallel on a reel.
• Ultimate Tensile Strength: the maximum stress that a material is capable of sustaining in tension under a gradual and uniformly applied load.
• Ultra Violet Degradation: The degradation caused by long time exposure of a material to sunlight or other ultraviolet rays containing radiation.
• Unidirectional conductor: Conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by more than one layer of helically laid wire, all layers having a common direction of lay, with increase in length of lay for each successive layer.
• Unilay conductor: conductor constructed with a central core surrounded by more than one layer of helically laid wires, all layers having a common length and direction of lay.
• Volt: Unit of electromotive force. It is the difference of potential required to make a current of one ampere flow through resistance of one ohm.
• Voltage Drop: The voltage developed between the terminals of a circuit component by the flow of current through the resistance or impedance of that part.
• Voltage Rating: The maximum voltage at which a given cable or insulated conductor may be safely maintained during continuous use in a normal manner. It is also called working voltage.
• Vulcanization: An irreversible process during which a rubber compound through a change in its chemical structure (for example, cross-linking), becomes less plastic and more resistant to swelling by organic liquids and elastic properties are conferred, improved, or extended over a greater range of temperature.
• Water Absorption: The ratio of the weight of water absorbed by a given material under specified conditions, to the weight of that material when dry. It is generally expressed as a percentage.
• Wavy Edge:  A rippling departure of a edge from flat.
• Wettability: The degree to which a metal surface may be wet to determine the absence of or the amount of residual rolling or added lubricants on the surface.
• Wicking: The longitudinal flow of a liquid in a wire or cable construction due to capillary action.
• Wire Gage: Any of several standard systems for designating wire sizes. As an example, see American Wire Gage.
• Work Hardening: The increased stiffness and brittleness accompanying plastic deformation of metal.
• Yield Strength: The lowest stress at which a material undergoes plastic deformation. Below this stress, the material is elastic; above it, viscous.