Terminating Rubber and Plastic Cables in Contaminated Environments

For termination of rubber-insulated cable, it has been found practical to simply expose the factory insulation between stress cone and terminal for uncontaminated outdoor locations. In severe contamination exposure, however, the factory insulation surface and conventional tapes have been found susceptible to deterioration from leakage-current, resulting in tracking and subsequent flashover. This difficulty may be reduced or eliminated by applying track-resistant tapes or tubes over the factory insulation at the termination. Teflon FEP fluorocarbon resin shrink-fit tubing, recently developed, resists this tracking approximately 30 times better than previously-used antitracking tape covers.