Cable compounds are materials used to prevent the ingress of

moisture Moisture is the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts. Small amounts of water may be found, for example, in the air (humidity), in foods, and in some commercial products. Moisture also refers to the amount of water vapo ...

into

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and

power transmission Power transmission is the movement of energy from its place of generation to a location where it is applied to perform useful work. Power is defined formally as units of energy per unit time. In SI units: :\text = \frac = \frac Since the develo ...

cables. The compound used varies depending upon the type of cable; generally, they are either soft waxy compounds (for use in

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

-wire telecom cables), soft

thixotropic Thixotropy is a time-dependent shear thinning property. Certain gels or fluids that are thick or viscous under static conditions will flow (become thinner, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, shear-stressed, or otherwise stressed ( ...

gels with a consistency similar to that of hair gel (for use in optical fibre cables), or resin/polymer thickened oils (for use in paper insulated

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

cables). A cable with such a compound is called a

filled cable In telecommunication, a filled cable is a cable that has a non-hygroscopic material, usually a gel called icky-pick, inside the jacket or sheath. The nonhygroscopic material fills the spaces between the interior parts of the cable, preventing moi ...

. Cable compounds are formulated and manufactured to have very good

electrical resistance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual paralle ...

properties to ensure good functioning of the filled cable.

Icky-pick Icky-pick or icky-pic is a gelatinous cable compound used in outdoor-rated communications cables, including both twisted-pair copper cabling and fiber-optic cabling. "PIC" is the abbreviation for "plastic insulated cable". The cable is filled wi ...

is a common gel-type compound used in outdoor fiber-optic cables.

References

Cables {{telecomm-stub