Cable compounds are materials used to prevent the ingress of

moisture Moisture is the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts. Moisture is defined as water in the adsorbed or absorbed phase. Small amounts of water may be found, for example, in the air (humidity), in foods, and in some comme ...

into

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

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 Mechanical work, work. Power (physics), Power is defined formally as units of energy per unit time. In SI units: :\text ...

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; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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 pinkish-orang ...

-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 An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

cables), or resin/polymer thickened oils (for use in paper insulated

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

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

filled cable In telecommunications, 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 mo ...

. 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 paral ...

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 wit ...

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

References

Cables {{telecomm-stub