Cable Resistant to Biodegradable Oils

April 2000

Lapp Cable has developed Ölflex-FD® Natur, a highly flexible connection cable with specific resistance to biodegradable machine oils, vegetable oils and modern environmentally-friendly cooling lubricants.

Although environmentally-friendly, the biodegradable oils and lubricants, as used in the machining and manufacture of motor vehicles for example, are highly aggressive to conventional cabling with thermoplastic or elastomer sheaths. To allow the development and introduction of these latest oils and lubricants the race was on to produce a cable sheathing material which could resist the aggressive affect on certain plastics.

A joint development venture, between Lapp Cable and a leading car manufacturer, has resulted in the introduction of a halogen-free, biodegradable oil resistant cable sheathing known as P4/11. This innovative material is now the "secret ingredient" in the manufacture of the super-flexible but inexpensive Ölflex-FD® Natur cable.

In addition to its resistance to biological oils and cooling lubricants used in the control of machinery used in applications such as conveyors, assembly and transfer lines, Ölflex-FD® Natur is eminently suitable for machine tools, especially in wet areas, and for continually moving power chains or machine parts with minimum bending radii.

In addition to Ölflex-FD Natur®, Lapp Cable manufactures a further two cables resistant to biodegradable oils and vegetable oils. These are Ölflex® Natur 110 (number coded and multicore) and Ölflex® Natur 110 CN (number coded, multicore and screened).

For the specifier looking for cabling solutions to particular problems, such as Ölflex-FD® Natur's resistance to biodegradable oils, Lapp Cable's new Applications Guide is an indispensable, highly informative tool. For each specific application, the Guide identifies the appropriate Lapp Cable product and details its primary performance (eg, oil resistant), its secondary performance (eg, microbe resistant) and capabilities. To obtain a free copy of the Applications Guide, visit the contacts page.

The Lapp Group is a leading global manufacturer of control cables and accessories. In addition to ÖLFLEX® control cables its brands include UNITRONIC® (Data and Bus cables), SKINTOP® (Cable Glands), EPIC® (Cable Connectors), FLEXIMARK® (Cable Marking Systems) and HITRONIC® (Fibre Optic Cables).