Cut-thru resistance of insulated wire by small diameter mandrel crush testing

To predict the cut-thru resistance of new wire insulations the test blade “sharpness”, or radius needs to be accurate and easily obtained. Using a standard centerless ground reamer blank and applying the force over its length; the accuracy of the radius of a cut-thru test blade can be improved by more than three orders of magnitude over blades made by form grinding. This increases reproducibility of measurements, so that known wire insulations can be compared to new insulations enabling predictions of cut-thru performance