Anti-rat test method and anti-rat performance of cable materials

Rats are widely used in various regions of the world as a type of rodents with strong fertility and vitality. Because of their well-developed and constantly growing population, as a result, rats have the habit of keeping their teeth sharp by biting objects. The unique smell of plastic makes plastic a common biting object.

Whether it's in the wild or in the human activity area, the mouse has a strong damage to the wire/cable jacket or insulation layer. It is often reported that cable failure occurs when the mouse bites the cables in the wild, and that the cables in the city houses are also ineffective. Therefore, the anti-rat functional cable materials came into being, using this material to produce cables can better solve the problem of rat biting. However, there is no national standard for the test method of anti-rat biting performance, which plays an important role in this material, even in the industry, there are no methods or standards recognized by everyone. Most cable manufacturers rely on the qualifications provided by material manufacturers or promise to choose materials, it is impossible to conduct effective tests on the anti-rat bite performance of materials and cables. Once a non-rat or anti-rat product is used, the cables are laid in areas with frequent rat activity, the loss will be hard to estimate.

We have been engaged in the research and development of rat-Proof Cable materials for several years and have made some achievements. In particular, we have made some efforts to explore the anti-rat Performance Test Methods for wire and cable materials, the following is an anti-rat test method developed by our technical staff in the laboratory by referring to animal test methods at home and abroad:

1. The sample is made into a sample with a size of 150mm × 20mm × 3mm according to the preparation method of the GB/T8815-2002 pilot sample.

2. The weight of test equipment and test animals is 250 ~ 300g SD male PP plastic box stainless steel mesh cage, mouse cage type is high 250, length is 600, width is 400, mouse cage bottom and four walls are PP plastic, top is stainless steel mesh cover, and equipped with a water injector.

3. SD male rats were selected for the test. The rats were randomly sampled and placed into the cage, with 5 rats in each cage. the test pieces were stretched out from the top of the cage into the cage and tightly bound with copper wire to the stainless steel mesh close to the feeding area, the test piece shall not exceed 20mm in the portion outside the mouse cage. Three test pieces shall be suspended in one cage, and the test piece shall be uniformly arranged in the width direction of the mouse cage at an interval of about 80mm. The rats supply drinking water and food normally during the test, that is, the water is replaced with water every day, and food is always maintained at the feeding area ). Observe the activity and diet of the rats every day and the effect of the bite on the samples after the test period.

4. the test time is 7 days. According to the above steps, the common cable materials 1-a), 2-a) and 3-a are selected as the blank control, and the mouse-Proof Cable materials with special anti-rat agents are added to simulate natural plant composition and artificial synthesis of anti-rat agents) A seven-day anti-rat test was conducted for three groups of samples respectively. The test samples were numbered by the following groups and placed into numbers 1), 2 ), 3) test in the mouse cage:

1) 70 ℃ PVC

1-a) Ordinary 70 ℃ PVC material

1-B) add high-temperature 70 ℃ PVC material

1-c) add special anti-rat agent 70 ℃ PVC material

2) MDPE Material

2-A) Common MDPE Material

2-B) add high-performance MDPE Material

2-c) Add special anti-rat MDPE Material

3) low smoke, halogen-free fuel Resistance

3-a) Ordinary low smoke halogen-free fuel Resistance

3-B) add high-smoke, halogen-free fuel Resistance

3-c) add special anti-rat agent for low smoke halogen-free fuel Resistance

After a seven-day test, the test results are as follows:

◆ During the test, no rats were found to be poisoned or killed. They were able to exercise freely and had a normal diet.

◆ The bite degree of the sample can be found in the table below.

Table 1

From the test results, it can be seen that the normal Cable Material blank samples without any anti-rat agent were severely bitten by rats, and the test piece was bitten by only the portion fixed on the net cover, the MDPE material is better than the PVC and halogen-free anti-fuel material, but the biting condition is still obvious. The cable material added with the anti-rat agent of the high C body has a slight anti-rat effect, compared with 1-a), 2-a), and 3-a), the three samples were slightly improved, but the samples showed obvious defects, the MDPE samples with the highest hardness are all bitten by neigon, Which is irregular and jagged. The test results of the anti-rat cable material used to simulate natural plant composition and synthesize the anti-rat agent are satisfactory, the three samples have only a few superficial teeth, and there is no obvious biting phenomenon.

Our factory works in the anti-rat test part in cooperation with Shanghai sipur-bikai Experimental Animal Co., Ltd. This company is a joint venture between China and foreign companies specializing in animal breeding and animal testing. We provide rat animal experiments all the year round, the laboratory rats used by Shanghai Medical College, including the first school of medicine affiliated to Fudan University, are provided by the company, and the cost of anti-rat experiments in the company is relatively low.

The experimental methods and results mentioned above are one of our views. We hope that the wire and cable industry association will organize relevant units to formulate standards or methods for mouse defense as soon as possible. In the absence of standards and methods, this article hopes to discuss this issue in the wire and cable industry, and also hopes that wire and cable manufacturers will pay more attention to the importance of anti-mouse testing, to improve the technical level and market competitiveness of functional cables in China.

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