Heat Shrink Moulded Shapes – Vital Items in Electronic & Electrical Harnessing Applications

 

Heat shrink products are indispensable components for varied electronic and electrical harnessing applications. Several products in this category are being formulated to meet the wide-ranging performance requirements of the industry. Heat shrink tubing along with heat shrink boots, heat shrink cable end caps, heat shrink sleeves and other constituents of heat shrink moulded shapes are just to name a few that cannot be done away with in a multitude of sensitive and not so sensitive applications.

Heat shrink moulded shapes offer a number of advantages including ease of installation, great electric strength, excellent environmental and chemical endurance and mechanical robustness.  They provide a cost effective solution for several electronic and electrical applications starting from simple insulation of cables and wires to fabricating the entire inter-joining cable harness assembly. The products can have as high as 5:1 heat shrink ratio and therefore smaller quantities of them suffice to fulfill the needs of the application. The use of encapsulants and specific adhesives for sealing provides the required strain relief, mechanical support and protection from environmental factors.

These moulded shapes are available in varied materials ranging from flexible polyolefin, fluid-resistant elastomer or its modified blend, flame retarded fluorocarbon or its semi-rigid variety and so on. Though normally they come in the color black you can also obtain them in red or blue colours depending upon your requirements.  Boots that offer strain relief, connector backshell covers, transitions and other specific shapes can be obtained in varied sizes and choices. The size has to be selected keeping in mind the dimensions of your application making allowance for the shrink ratio. The moulded shapes come in unlined form or have the choice of an adhesive lining. The types of adhesive lining range from general purpose hot melt adhesive, high temperature hot melt adhesive, one part epoxy etc. Customized modifications which include provision of drainholes and fillerports can also be obtained for applications which require the injecting of a sealant.  The various heat shrink moulded shapes are tested for several properties such as tensile strength, heat ageing, elongation, flammability, flexibility, water absorption and dielectric strength. Solvent resistance to varied liquids such as saline, aviation fuel, lubricating oil, automotive fuel and hydraulic fluid has to be in the range of excellent to very good or good.

With such a wide range available among the heat shrink products it is very essential to use the right material, size, colour, shrink ratio and wall-thickness for your application. The top rated manufacturers attribute the success of their products to the specific attributes gained by the heat shrink tubing. Right from selection of the materials, to the various processes involved in their production quality controls are exercised at every stage. The option of using customized materials to suit the client’s special requirements are also offered by them.

The next time you need to seal your electric connections so that they remain waterproof then think of a good manufacturer who provides heat shrink moulded shapes. Seal your cable ends with top quality products and obtain important cost and functional savings.