Recent technological developments for lead sheathed cables

Continuous extruders have replaced the ram-press as the most common and economical means of producing lead sheathed power cables. The intrinsic ability of the extruder to produce a significantly more uniform sheath composition should allow for a more dilute version of standard alloy compositions to be used, with equal or better performance of the sheath in service. No power cable sheathing alloy has yet been developed expressly for manufacture by a continuous extruder. New techniques for testing of lead pipe provides further insight into the behavior of the alloy sheath near its bursting limit. Simplified impervious splice designs, without the need for lead wiping, have been developed to overcome environmental concerns