Floating cable and zero-buoyancy cable, floating cable characteristics: light weight, tensile strength, sea water resistance. It is often used for power, signal transmission or signal control connection of underwater and deep-sea equipment, mainly for ROV underwater robots, underwater detection, underwater construction, underwater photography, underwater monitoring and other underwater operations mechanical equipment. Nowadays, there are more TPEs for this kind of zero-buoyancy cables, which can adapt to the underwater environment where the cables work, meet the corresponding requirements of anti-torsion, wear-resistance, acid and alkali resistance, and the processing methods are relatively simple, injection and extrusion. Zero-buoyancy cables generally use TPE material, which has certain advantages compared to PVC.
PVC soft rubber is a powdery polyvinyl chloride polymer, added with plasticizers and other components to improve the plasticity of the material and reduce the hardness of PVC. The toxicity of PVC soft rubber is mainly due to plasticizers. At present, most PVC still uses DOP and other phthalates as plasticizers, which are cheap. But DOP is considered to be a great harm to human health. PVC materials are gradually restricted. For example, the European Union EN71-3 and the American ASTM F963 test, PVC materials can not pass the test, and the use of TPE, TPR soft glue, it is completely in line with the environmental protection test.
TPE soft rubber is a functional polymer material obtained by blending and modifying SEBS elastomer as the base resin, adding other formula components. TPE material has the elasticity of rubber and the thermoplasticity of plastic, and through adjusting the formula, TPE materials with different hardness and physical properties can be obtained. TPE soft rubber can be injected directly to produce accessories that can replace rubber. Another major application of TPE soft glue is through formula adjustment, which can be combined with ABS, PP, PC, PC/ABS and other plastics. Meet the functional requirements of the product. TPE material can be extruded and is an ideal raw material for environmentally friendly high-end low-pressure wire outer covers. In addition, the TPR mentioned by some customers, or the TPE modified by SEBS, is the same material or very similar, but the customer's name is different.
With the implementation of EU ROHS environmental protection regulations, the application of PVC plastics will be more and more restricted. Therefore, the development of halogen-free flame-retardant environmentally friendly wire and cable is undoubtedly of great significance. For the selection of materials for zero-buoyancy cables, TPE materials have been used by many manufacturers as the first choice for insulating sheath materials.
