What Tinsel Wire Is, And Why It Outlasts Solid Wire Where Cables Bend

The construction in one sentence

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. That single structural choice is where every one of its properties comes from.

What it gains over solid wire

The specifications produced are very fine and flexible with a low specific gravity. Compared with traditional solid wires, 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 a long service life with good wear resistance and corrosion resistance under high temperature and high pressure.

See Bare Copper Tinsel Wire

Why multi-layer foil lowers resistance

The multi-layer copper foil design and the multi-strand twisted design significantly reduce conductor resistance, while breaking load and swing performance are greatly improved at the same time. That is the reason a designer can meet a resistance target and an outer diameter ceiling together, which a solid wire of the same gauge cannot do.

See Precision Copper Foil

The two materials involved

Tinsel wire is composed of two materials, with a metal foil surface and a fiber core inside. Common metal foil materials include 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 materials include nylon, polyester, aramid, liquid crystal fiber, heat-resistant cotton yarn and glass fiber.

How small it goes

The outer diameter of a single tinsel wire can be as small as 0.04 mm and runs up to 0.40 mm, with either a single-layer or a multi-layer copper foil structure. It can be twisted into tinsel wire strands, or mixed with copper wires, mainly to increase the bending strength of the conductor.