Knowledge Hub

A ladle car or slag car is a wagon, which is used in steel foundries to collect the molten iron spatters. In Tata Steel's foundry in Jamshedpur, India, the ladle cars move 300 meters front and back from one location to another to process the steel.

Electric mobility. You might think about a certain electric car from California but this is turning out to be a global movement. During 2016 a group of 23 students from Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands completed a trip around the world on an electric motorcycle that they have designed and built from the ground up.

Ampack is a German packaging technology company and not a typical Habia customer. Standard cables on stock from any supplier will work just fine in the machine building industry. Habia is far from standard so we were pleasantly surprised to face this particular challenge.

Mobile devices. We use them all the time and get really annoyed if we lose our connection for a couple of minutes. We can't believe that it doesn't work. Our children are crying and we have no consolation to offer. This is equally true in a big city or out and about all over the world. What kind of crazy magic is this?

Actemium is a company specialising in building robots that perform really difficult and demanding work. In this case, the robot's task is to inspect large fuel tanks. How hard can that be? Well, if the tank is full of petrol it is actually pretty hard. One spark is enough to blow the whole thing up and the cables need to be highly chemical resistant, quite flexible and most importantly, completely anti-static.

The ocean is the world’s largest natural power generator. Tidal turbines, used to harness energy created from tides, is just one of the many sustainable technologies used to tap into earth’s immense resources.

If you’re operating a 60-ton tank, reliable communication is vital. Troops on the ground must be able to coordinate manoeuvres, share intelligence and maintain situational awareness at all times.

Habia was one of the first companies in Europe to make use of Polytetrafluoroethylene - PTFE, and also one of the first to manufacture PTFE wires and cables as early as 1957, only four years after DuPont introduced the material on the market.

Did you know that the sooner a cable designer gets involved in your application development, the greater your chances of walking away with a better and more cost-effective solution?

When it comes to designing high-performance cables or cable harnesses, expert knowledge and experience across a wide range of applications and materials are crucial. This is particularly true when dealing with the creation of custom solutions for use in the most demanding environment

We are a world leader in the production and processing of high-quality PTFE tapes (such as our HEI-Tape®). From in-house wire drawing, electro-plating, and stranding to silicone compounding, our modern, in-house developed and designed machinery allows us to implement all common, but also very special and patented manufacturing processes.

A conductor is the core component that allows the flow of electrical current in one or more directions. A metal wire is a common electrical conductor.

Cabling, or twisting as it is also called, is the process of bringing all the elements together to make a round and flexible cable.

Water-blocked cables and harnesses prevent water entering and travelling longitudinally along a cable – and damaging whatever equipment you have at the end of it. At Habia, we typically use a low-temperature, halogen-free material to fill all voids in the cable, making it virtually impossible for water to enter.

If you’re looking for a high-temperature material combined with strong electrical resistance and mechanical properties, PTFE is usually the go-to choice.

PEEK is a very versatile material and as a result, can be found in many demanding environments, including nuclear power plants, military shipboards and vehicle exhaust sensors.

After over 80 years in the business, we’re experts in finding the perfect combination of cable materials and components to create the best solution for you. Explore the key components and common material choices below.

Fluoropolymers are long-chain polymers in which a large proportion or even all of the hydrogens contained are usually replaced by fluorine. Fluorine atoms have the highest electro negativity, which means that the carbon-fluorine compound has a very high binding energy. For this reason, fluoropolymers exhibit extremely high temperature and chemical resistance. They also have excellent electrical insulation properties, superior weathering resistance, good notched impact strength, anti-adhesive behavior and they are self-extinguishing.

When designing the best possible cable for the customer, choosing the right insulation and sheathing material is a key factor.

A shield, or screen, is a metallic layer placed over one or more insulated conductors to either protect them from, or prevent them causing electrical interference.

Tapes, or binders, and fillers are applied to improve flexibility or roundness of the cable, to protect the insulation or sheath, or to ease production.

Silicones respectively silicone rubbers belong to the class of elastomers, but differ in the fact that the main chain is not composed of carbon compounds, but of alternating silicium and oxygen atoms. The silicium atoms carry organic substituents, preferably methyl groups.

Liquid silicones are usually 2-component systems consisting of the platinum catalyst (component A) and the Si-H crosslinker (component B), which are crosslinked exclusively by addition. Due to short-chain linear polysiloxanes with a viscosity of approx. 5-500 Pa-s and a relatively low filler content (max. 30%), liquid silicones have a pourable to pasty consistency and are mainly processed by injection molding.

Solid silicones are copolymers of dimethylsiloxanes (main chain) and isolated vinylmethylsiloxanes (functional group). Due to their low intermolecular interaction, they have a soft, pasty consistency. With a viscosity of 10,000 to 50,000 Pa-s, solid silicones are easy to process at room temperature.

In addition to the selection of optimum additives, the interplay of heating and cooling processes, which must be adjusted accordingly for each high-performance thermoplastic, is decisive for maintaining the outstanding material properties.

The production and processing of high-performance thermoplastics requires a great deal of experience and places high demands on plant technology. High-performance thermoplastics can usually only be processed in special machines under extreme temperatures.

Insulation and sheath are the plastic components of a cable that protect the conductor. The insulation isolates the flow of electricity, and the sheath wraps around the outside of the cable to protect the conductors inside and enable electricity transmission.

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) combine the properties of thermoplastics and elastomers. For example, TPE exhibits elastic behavior at room temperature, but can be plastically deformed when heat is applied.

Elastomers are long-chain polymers that have thermoplastic properties in the uncrosslinked state. They soften with increasing temperature and are thus extrudable. Only through vulcanization (crosslinking) is a narrow- or wide-meshed structure formed. Depending on the material, crosslinking is carried out by halogen-free peroxides or by radiation crosslinking. This gives elastomers many additional qualities, such as high temperature stability, flexibility and good mechanical resistance, even at very low temperatures. Due to their high elasticity, elastomers return to their original shape after tensile and compressive stress.

There are many terms in use, but what really separates one wire or cable from another when it comes to withstanding high temperatures, or even a full-scale fire?

Out of all the industries we specialise in, the defence sector is one of the most complex and challenging. The field requires innovative solutions and robust products that can withstand extreme conditions, comply with strict national standards, and keep up with the rapid pace of technological advancements. So, let’s look at what it takes to develop solutions beyond the ordinary for our defence customers.

Toxic chemicals and compounds surrounds us in everyday life and there is a growing desire to remove them wherever possible. What are halogen free cables, and how do they help?

There are many ways to handle end-of-life cable materials, not all of which are responsible when it comes to resource management or environmental impact. Explore our end-of-life guide, outlining more sustainable solutions for recycling, reuse and disposal of cable materials and packaging.

For highly sensitive applications, mainly in the medical field, the Silindo® surface developed by HEW-KABEL offers key advantages.

At Habia we know the individual additives and manufacturing processes from the inside out. This enables us to precisely define the necessary process steps and offer you optimal high-performance material with perfectly matched material properties.

In the North American economic area, the dimensions of copper conductors for high voltage and telecommunications purposes are usually given in AWG numbers*. In Germany, Europe and many other parts of the world, we speak of metric cross-sections in mm².