What is cold shrink tubing？
Cold shrink tubing is a tubular product made of rubber material with elastic memory function. It is pre-expanded on a plastic support core. When it is installed, it is put on the cable or component to be protected. You just only need to gently pull out the support core, and the elasticity and radial pressure of the rubber material itself will shrink the cold shrink tubing and tightly wrap it around the cable component to form a waterproof, sealed, and insulating protective layer. No heating is required during the installation process, so it is called cold shrink tubing.
Cold shrink tubing has excellent UV resistance and anti-aging performance, electrical insulation performance, sealing and waterproof performance, etc. It has a variety of sizes and specifications and is widely used in the power industry, communication cable, electronic equipment and wiring harnesses, etc. It is mainly used for sealing insulation protection of various cable joints or components.
What are Application areas
Due to its unique and simple installation method, cold shrink tubing has a wide range of applications in various industries such as communications, power, aerospace, rail transportation and automotive industry. It is mainly used for insulation protection of cable and equipment joints and high-temperature harnesses.
How to produce a cold shrink tube？
How is the cold shrink tube produced? The main processes are mixing, extrusion, expansion, etc. Through the following specific process details, you will know how the cold shrink tube is "born". Prepare all of the related raw materials, and then.
Mixing: That is to fully mix the prepared rubber material and some necessary additives in a mixer to ensure that the materials are uniform.
Extrusion: The mixed material is passed through an extruder to extrude a tubular object at a certain temperature and pressure. During the extrusion process, the speed, temperature and pressure must be controlled to ensure the size and shape of the extruded tube.
Vulcanization: The extruded original tube is vulcanized through a vulcanizer. Through high-temperature vulcanization, the base material and additives of the raw materials react chemically to form a more stable structure, so that the product has better physical and chemical properties.
Cutting: According to customer requirements, the extruded original tube is cut into the required length by a cutting machine.
Expansion: The cut original tube is expanded by an expander and covered on a plastic support tube of suitable outer diameter. The expansion ratio needs to be controlled during the expansion process to prevent the original tube from breaking.
The expanded cold shrink tube also needs to manually process the length of the support tubes at both ends, and finally conduct product testing and packaging.
We have strict product process inspection procedures to ensure that every step meets quality requirements.
How to use a cold shrink tube?
The use of the cold shrink tube is very simple and fast. If the cold shrink tube is used to protect the connector of the communication base station: First, select a cold shrink tube with a suitable inner diameter that can match the connector, then put the cold shrink tube on the part of the connector that needs protection, and then just pull out the supporting core of the cold shrink tube, and the installation is complete. No heating or any other auxiliary tools are required.
The cold shrink tube is made of weather-resistant materials such as silicone rubber/epdm rubber, and has good UV resistance, aging resistance, and corrosion resistance. Once the cold shrink tube is properly installed on the cable or component connector, basically no maintenance is required. You only need to regularly check the appearance of the cold shrink tube to ensure that there is no damage, cracks, aging, etc.
