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Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

RE Is stranded cable directional?

It is interesting to visit certain cable manufacturers website. MWS is a good one: they have photos of the wire drawing process and helps better understand the mechanical nature of the manufacture. In addition most stranded wire is spooled and then various spools are combined to make the finished wire, so essentially the wire is unidirectional.

One must also take into consideration cross contamination. Dies used for silver for example and then used for sopper will carry traces of the silver. In addition wire as it is being drawn is lubricated, with something akin to cutting fluid. You can clearly see this in a few of the MWS machines where the wire under manufacture goes through a lubricating bath. that surely imposes impurities and further probably affects the grain structure.

Some wire manufacturers use jeweled dies (diamond or Sapphire) as little or no lubrication is needed and the jeweled die can impart a mirror like finish on the metal wire. Try looking at standard wire under a microscope, the striations from the die are clearly visible for the most part. Meticulous manufacturers maintain separate dies for different metals being drawn. That being said most outsource their wire from one the few wire giants: Belden, etc.



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