Tinsel Wire
Bare Copper Tinsel Wire
Highest conductivity per unit of foil in the range, with no plating layer in the current path.
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Conductor family
Tinsel Wire: Foil Wound Over A Textile Fiber Core
Ultra-thin metal foil wound over a soft textile fiber core, for cables that have to bend, swing and survive instead of sitting still.
Overview
What Tinsel Wire Is And How It Is Built
Tinsel wire is a conductor made by winding a layer of ultra-thin metal foil, or several layers of it, around a soft textile fiber core. The specifications we produce are very fine and flexible with a low specific gravity. Against a traditional solid wire of comparable size, bending strength and tensile strength are both greatly improved, oxidation resistance is better and the conductor is easier to weld. With imported raw materials and a special process, the product holds up over a long service life with good wear resistance and corrosion resistance under high temperature and high pressure. The multi-layer copper foil design and the multi-strand twisted design significantly reduce conductor resistance, and breaking load and swing performance improve with them.
7 products
The Complete Tinsel Wire Range
Tinsel Wire
Tin-Plated Tinsel Wire
Tin layer protects the copper foil surface from oxidation through storage and handling.
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Tinsel Wire
Silver-Plated Tinsel Wire
Silver surface for demanding termination and contact requirements.
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Tinsel Wire
Copper Alloy Tinsel Wire
Alloy foil raises the mechanical ceiling over pure copper at the same construction.
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Tinsel Wire
Tin-Plated Alloy Tinsel Wire
Alloy foil strength combined with a tin-plated, oxidation-protected surface.
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Tinsel Wire
Silver-Plated Alloy Tinsel Wire
Silver-copper alloy foil with silver plating: strength and surface both at the top of the range.
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Tinsel Wire
Conductive Textile Wire
A soft textile fiber core at the centre, so the conductor handles like yarn.
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Fit
Who Specifies This And Why
Who this range is for
- Speaker and earphone makers specifying lead-out wire that has to survive the full excursion life of the diaphragm.
- Cable houses building medical, robot, drag chain and aerospace cables where flex life is the failure mode.
- Wearable and smart textile developers who need a conductor that behaves like yarn.
- Engineers with a resistance target and an outer diameter ceiling that a solid wire cannot satisfy at once.
Problems it is specified to solve
- Solid conductors work-harden and fracture at the flex point in speaker leads, earphone cables and drag chains.
- Thinning a solid wire to gain flexibility pushes conductor resistance past what the circuit allows.
- Fine conductors oxidize at the solder joint and become hard to terminate reliably in volume assembly.
- Cables carrying their own weight need low specific gravity without losing breaking load.
Capability
What This Range Gives Your Cable
Core advantages
- Outer diameter of a single tinsel wire from 0.04 mm to 0.40 mm, in single-layer or multi-layer copper foil structure.
- Can be twisted into tinsel wire strands, or mixed with copper wires, to raise the bending strength of the conductor further.
- Multi-layer foil and multi-strand twisting cut conductor resistance without adding outer diameter.
- Better oxidation resistance and easier welding than comparable solid wire.
- Wear resistance and corrosion resistance retained under high temperature and high pressure.
Application scenarios
- Speaker lead-out wire
- In-ear monitor and earphone cable
- Medical sensor and patient cable
- Robotic arm and drag chain cable
- Smart clothing and conductive textile
- Heating elements with high resistance requirements
Industries
Where This Range Is Used
Audio, Speakers And Earphones
Lead-out wire and internal cable for drivers, headphones and in-ear monitors, where the conductor moves with the diaphragm.
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Medical Devices And Cables
Conductors for patient cables, sensor leads and medical wires that flex daily and stay in service for years.
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Robotics And Drag Chain
Conductors for robot wires and drag chain cables, where the cable is in motion for the whole duty cycle of the machine.
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Smart Textiles And Wearables
Conductors that can be sewn, woven and worn, for smart clothing, heated apparel and technical textiles.
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Questions
Tinsel Wire: Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is tinsel wire made of?
Two materials. A metal foil on the surface and a fiber core inside. Common foils are bare copper foil, tin-plated copper foil, nickel-plated copper foil, silver-plated copper foil, tin-copper alloy foil, iron-copper alloy foil and silver-copper alloy foil. Common fiber cores are nylon, polyester, aramid, liquid crystal fiber, heat-resistant cotton yarn and glass fiber.
How fine can a single tinsel wire go?
The outer diameter of a single tinsel wire runs from 0.04 mm up to 0.40 mm, built with either a single-layer or a multi-layer copper foil structure.
Why is tinsel wire easier to solder than fine solid wire?
The foil surface carries the plating, so the solderable surface is the outside of the conductor rather than a freshly exposed core. Combined with better oxidation resistance than solid wire, the joint stays consistent through volume assembly.
Can tinsel wire be combined with ordinary copper wire?
Yes. Tinsel wire can be twisted into strands on its own, or mixed with copper wires in the same construction, mainly to increase the bending strength of the finished conductor.
Specify Your Tinsel Wire
Send the resistance, outer diameter and flex targets. Sampling is available on conventional and customized products with no minimum order quantity.