Unless you’ve had the kind of experience that only comes from running a custom cable business, getting your head around the plethora of cable-based jargon can be extremely difficult. Most people will just plug in a cable and hope that it works. However, those jargon terms are actually extremely important and often describe key features of a cable’s construction. If you’re planning to have custom cables built, it really does help to know your cable braiding from your multicore cables. That’s where we come in. You’ve probably already come across our jargon-busting dictionary, but over the next couple of months, we’re going to be further explaining some of the cable industry’s most confusing jargon terms. Today’s topic? Abrasion resistance. What is abrasion resistance? Abrasion resistance wouldn’t be such a confusing term if resistance didn’t have so many meanings in the electrical field. There is, of course, electrical resistance but more or less anything that ‘resists’ something else can be described as having ‘resistance’. Abrasion resistance is most commonly used when describing cable jacketing. It describes a property of cable jacketing, specifically the ability of that cable jacketing to stand up to the effects of (you guessed it) abrasion. Cables are subject to all kinds of wear and tear; it could be from people walking over them or during the operation of the machinery housing the cables. While most cables will be designed to stand up to this wear and tear for a while, the abrasion resistance of the jacket housing the cable will ultimately determine the operation life of the cable. The abrasion resistance of particular materials can be tested in a number of ways, but the main crux of any test is usually quite primitive; simply keep rubbing against the material until it starts to degrade. There are two main aspects of any abrasion test; the abrasion rate and median abrasion rate. The abrasion rate is determined by the amount of mass lost every 1000 cycles of whatever it is that might be rubbing against the material. This is then measured against a similar material’s results to provide the median abrasion rate. The test can be carried out in a number of ways but one of the preferred methods is to use an automated ‘arm’ to draw a brush along the material in a repetitive motion for a set period of brushes. Of course, abrasion resistance isn’t an exact science as it doesn’t always account for increased periods of abrasion (if you use a particular machine intensively for a week after weeks of inactivity, for example) or certain environmental factors, and so can’t provide a definitive operational time. However, it does provide cable manufacturers with the knowledge to source only the best materials for their cable jacketing. When you order a cable from Custom Designed Cables, you can be sure it’s housed in a cable jacket with a high abrasion resistance. For more information on our custom cable solutions, get in touch today.