Visico™/Ambicat™ processing

and handling guidelines

Product description
Visico/Ambicat cable insulation system
The Visico base material is based on a low-density polyethylene, copolymerised with vinyl silane. The
copolymerisation process results in a moisture curable polymer with excellent storage stability and without
any volatiles. The Visico contains a compatible scorch retardant additive which ensures safe processing and
enables the use of a highly active crosslinking catalyst.

The Ambicat catalyst masterbatches, LE4476 and LE4472, contain a patented and environmentally safe
crosslinking catalyst, based on an acid, and are free from heavy metals. Compared to the traditional tin-based
catalyst it gives outstanding curing rates, processing characteristics, excellent surface finish and no or little
die drool. Additionally the Ambicat catalyst masterbatches contain antioxidants, a metal deactivator and a
drying agent. They must not be dried prior to extrusion.

The Visico base materials in combination with the Ambicat catalyst masterbatch LE4476 or LE4472 will
accelerate the moisture-induced crosslinking reaction. The system is highly active and crosslinks quickly at
ambient conditions, in a sauna or hot water bath and is designed for insulation of low voltage wiring and
power cables up to 6 kV.

Visico Colour
Base resin
LE4421 Natural To be used with LE4472 or LE4476
LE4423 Natural To be used with LE4472 or LE4476
LE4427 Black To be used with LE4476
ME4425 Natural To be used with LE4472 or LE4476
LE 4481 Natural To be used with LE4476

Ambicat Colour
Catalyst
LE4472 Black 7% to be added to LE4421, LE4423 or ME4425
LE4476 Natural 5%* to be added to LE4421, LE4423, LE4427, ME4425 or LE4481

* For IEC60502 thermo-oxidative ageing requirements (150°C) on copper conductor it is recommended to add 9% LE4476.

Table 1.
Visico/Ambicat product range

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 Handling of Visico/Ambicat
Storage stability
The Ambicat catalyst masterbatch can be stored for up to 15 months and the Visico base resin for up to 18 months
after production at 10-30°C in the unopened original packaging, without deterioration in the quality of the
material.

Drying
Since the material is sensitive to moisture, it is delivered with low moisture content, ready to be used.
Predying is not recommended, as it will destroy the drying agent which has been added to prevent the
material from absorbing moisture.
An opened bag of Ambicat catalyst masterbatch must be used within one week. It is recommended to reseal
the bags between uses.
It is recommended to dry colour masterbatches before use.

Blending
Pellets of the Visico base resin and the Ambicat catalyst masterbatch should be blended together just before
use. This can be done preferably using a gravimetric or volumetric continuous feeder for dosing the catalyst
masterbatch to the Visico base resin close to the extruder inlet.
We recommend that Visico and Ambicat pellet blends are not stored for more than 4 hours in ambient
conditions as pre-crosslinking can occur.

Precautions
For the Visico/Ambicat system, the addition of metal soaps and basic (high pH) components such as fillers,
stearates and UV stabilisers will deactivate the catalyst and are not compatible with the Ambicat catalyst
masterbatch. In this situation the LE4438 standard catalyst can be used with Visico.
To prevent Ambicat catalyst deactivation during colouring, specially designed colour masterbatches are
required. Please contact the local Borealis representative for further information.

Extrusion equipment
Extruder
Visico can be processed on a variety of PVC and PE extruders. The length/diameter (L/D) ratio of the
extruder should be in the range of 20/1 to 32/1, whilst extruders of 18/1 ratio may give satisfactory results
depending upon the mixing efficiency of the screw. No special requirements are necessary in respect of the
power (kW) of the extruder drive motor.

Extruder screw
The extruder screw should be designed to extrude LDPE as a fully homogenised melt. Extruder screws
having a barrier or melt transfer design are normally satisfactory, whilst a single flight screw with a 3.0 to
3.5/1 compression ratio and internal cooling facilities will also produce satisfactory results. There is no need
for a mixing/grafting zone on the screw since this can result in a significant reduction in output.

Extruder die head and tool design

The die head and tool design should allow a uniform and streamlined flow path for the material. Pressure,
semi-pressure and tube on tooling can be used.

When processing the material in a ’’tube on’’ operation, a draw down ratio in the range of 1.2/1 to 2.0/1
should be used. The best results are normally achieved in the region 1.3/1 and 1.4/1.

There are various definitions on draw down ratio. Here we use:

Draw down ratio = (Do2-Di2) / (Jo2-Ji2)

Do is the diameter of the die

Di is the outer diameter of the wire guide tip
Jo is the diameter of the cable
Ji is the conductor diameter.
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We recommend that the guide point and the die have a parallel section to stabilise the flow speed of the
material. The length of the parallel section (often referred to as land length) may be up to 30 mm.

We recommend the use of ’’tube on’’ technique when possible, as this gives a more homogeneous
molecular orientation than the use of a pressure die technique.

Filter screen pack

A screen 60-100 mesh pack will improve melt homogenisation and can be used advantageously when
extruding the Visico/Ambicat system.
For extruders with limited homogenisation properties, including short extruders such as 18/1 and screws
with low compression, the screens might even be necessary to create increased back pressure in order to
obtain, sufficient melt homogeneity.
The filter screen pack will not have any negative impact due to scorch when using Visico/Ambicat system.

Extrusion conditions
Conductor preheating
For good mechanical properties, conductor preheating up to 100°C (210°F) is recommended when producing
cables with a conductor up to 16 mm2. When using tub-on tooling and/or ME4425 the need for preheating is
less than other Visico grades. (See figure 1)
When conductor sizes above 25 mm2 are used, preheating of the conductor is typically not necessary.
Elongation at break (%)

30 400
Tensile Strength (Mpa)

28
26 350
24
22 300
20
18 250
16
14 200
12
10 150
No 30 40 50 60 80 110 No 30 40 50 60 80 110
Conductor preheating (°C) Conductor preheating (°C)
Visico LE4423 Visico ME4425 Visico LE4423 Visico ME4425

Figure 1 and 2.
Influence of conductor temperature on mechanical properties

Temperature settings
Visico copolymer can be processed across a wide range of temperature settings. For appropriate mixing
and homogenisation of the melt, we recommend using a flat temperature setting of 165-170°C without
screw cooling for most types of extruders. Melt temperatures may range from 160-200°C without any
adverse effects.
Visico, terpolymer, LE4481 requires a lower melt temperature for the optimum smoothness of the cable
surface. The melt temperature should not be below 155°C.

Visico base resin Zone 1, Zone2, Zone3, Zone4…. Neck, Head, Die Expected
melt temp.

LE4421,LE4423.LE4427 150°C, 170°C, 170°C 170°C… 170°C 170°C 170°C 180-185°C

ME4425 150°C, 185°C, 185°C 185°C… 185°C 185°C 185°C 190-195°C
LE4481 120°C, 130°C, 140°C 140°C… 140°C 140°C 140°C 145-150°C

Table 2.
Typical temperature settings for most types of extruders

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 Start up/shut down procedure
If extruding the Visico/Ambicat system for the first time in an extruder, if changing from one Visico base
resin to the other, we recommend the following procedure:

1. Make sure that the extruder is clean. If PVC or other crosslinking systems have been used, remove the
screw and clean the barrel, head and die mechanically.
2. Use a filter screen pack and set the temperature according to the recommendation above.
3. Start by extruding only the Visico base resin and bleed the melt out on the floor for a few minutes
until the temperature has stabilised. Take the melt in both your hands, which should be properly
protected with heat resistant gloves. Elongate and stretch the melt by separating your hands. The
melt should hold together and not break.
4. Add the Ambicat catalyst masterbatch and repeat the homogenisation test according to p3. with your
hands. Measure also the melt temperature manually with an external thermocouple. The temperature
should preferably be within the advised melt temperature range above indicated. If the melt breaks it
is not homogenous, then increase the temperature in all zones except for the first zone by 5-10°C and
repeat the homogenisation test and measure the melt temperature. Make sure that the melt
temperature does not exceed 205°C. The general idea is to get the necessary melt homogeneity at the
lowest temperature possible.
5. Start to extrude on the conductor.
6. If the surface smoothness is a bit rough, decrease the distance between the wire guide and nipple
through the adjustment screw on the head for optimal surface finish.

After finding the optimal running condition, point 3 and 6 can be excluded for the next start up.

Extruder stops and cleaning

The Visico/Ambicat system contains a scorch retardant additive, which makes it possible to process for long
periods of time without pre-crosslinking (scorch) occurring in the extruder. Continuous extrusion for two to
four weeks is possible without cleaning the extruder, depending on the melt temperature.

The extruder can, depending on the melt temperature, be stopped for tool changes etc. 30 to 60 minutes
with Visico/Ambicat melt without pre-crossinking occurring in the extruder.
For longer stops, reduction of the temperature to about 120°C and the addition of a thermoplastic LDPE
should be used. LE4147 is recommended as a stop material.
Following completion of an extruder run it is recommended to use the cleaning compound LE0865. If the
extruder has been used for PVC or other materials it is recommended to remove the screw and clean the
extruder before use of Visico/Ambicat material.

Die drool
When using Visico/Ambicat system, the die drool build up is usually very small. There is normally no need
for a flame.

Marking
The marking of Visico/Ambicat cables can be done by embossing or ink-jet printing. When marking the
cable, it is important that the insulation surface is dry. To improve adhesion of the ink to the insulation, it is
recommended to treat the surface with a flame and to use an ink based on cyclohexanone / methylisobutyl
ketone. Consult your ink supplier for more advice.

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Crosslinking
The crosslinking of Visico/Ambicat is initiated by moisture. The time to cure the entire cross-section of the
insulation is principally dependent on the following factors:

• Catalyst activity
• Relative humidity, moisture content
• Temperature
• Insulation thickness
• Reel size

Crosslinking times
The following tables show the influence of these factors on the crosslinking of Visico. Crosslinking efficiency
was measured by hot creep elongation (hot set elongation) according to EN 60811-2-1 ( 200°C,0,2 MPa).
A typical industrial requirement for proper crosslinking is maximum 100 % elongation.

Relative Temperature Tin catalyst Ambicat catalyst

humidity Time to reach 100 % hot-set, Time to reach 100 % hot-set,
% °C days days

35 23 22 3.5
50 23 10 2.5
100 23 8.5 2.5

Table 3.
Humidity strongly influences crosslinking time for a tin based catalyst, but to a lesser extent for Ambicat
(1mm2 conductor, 0,7mm insulation thickness).

Relative Temperature Ambicat catalyst

humidity Time to reach 100 % hot-set,
% °C days
100 23 3.0

100 60 0.12 (3 hours)

100 85 0.06 (1.5 hours)

Table 4.
Temperature has a dramatic influence on the curing speed
(1,5mm2 conductor, 0,9mm insulation thickness).

Relative Temperature Insulation thickness Ambicat catalyst

humidity Time to reach 100 % hot-set,
% °C mm days
50 23 0.

50 23 0.
50 23 1.

Table 5.
Polyethylene absorbs water slowly.
This means that insulation thickness has a relatively large influence on crosslinking speed
(1,5mm2 conductor).

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 Reduction of lead time when crosslinking at ambient condition.
In most industrial productions, there is a constant need for the reduction in production lead time. When
producing cables using Visico/Ambicat insulation, there are several possible actions which can be taken in
order to reduce the time to finish the cable.

Reduction of the crosslinking time.

To ensure that enough moisture is available through the whole cross-section of the reel,
take up of the cables wet and warm will dramatically reduce the crosslinking time as shown in the tables
above.
In practice, the addition of water to the surface of the cable core can easily be made by continuously wetting
the surface simply by spraying a mist of moisture over the cables during take up.
To prevent drying of the wet surface, it is useful to wrap stretch film around the drum before it is put aside
for crosslinking. These arrangements ensure 100 % humidity during the crosslinking operation.

Crosslinking of a jacketed cable

If fresh and not crosslinked Visico/Ambicat insulated cable is jacketed, the crosslinking reaction will take
place if enough moisture is available to the insulation.
Wetting of the insulated cable surface prior to the jacket extrusion can be made.
This reduces the lead time significantly and minimises the handling of drums as it eliminates the
intermediate storage for crosslinking.
Sometimes, quality control procedures require that several tests are made on the crosslinked insulation
before jacketing of the cable. In order to confirm the crosslinking capability of the cable, the crosslinking
evolution can be accelerated in the laboratory for control purposes by putting a sample in a hot water bath
before hot set testing. The test results will confirm that the insulation is properly made to ensure an
acceptable level of crosslinking while stored or in transit to customers.

Discolouration of the copper conductor

Some users of silane crosslinkabe material experience black discolouration of the surface of the copper
conductor when crosslinking the cables in steam sauna or hot water bath. Copper turns black only in the
presence of water. To prevent water penetration from the conductor ends, use watertight ends. It is
generally held that the discolouration is only cosmetic and will not cause any electrical or other nuisances
to the cable.
Discolouration can be avoided by crosslinking the cables under ambient conditions.
It is also possible to reduce the discolouration of the conductor by using processing oil containing a copper
passivator during production of the copper conductor. Consult your supplier of processing oil.

Loose cables on the drum after crosslinking

When producing certain smaller cable constructions, it sometimes happens that the cables become loosely
winded on the drum after crosslinking. This can cause problems during unwinding of the cables. There are
several possible things which can be done to rectify this situation.

• Reduce the cable tension during take up.

• Make sure that the cable is properly cooled all the way through the whole cross-section of the cable
• Take up the cable with steeper pitch over the cable drum. This will indeed solve the above problem
but might cause other problems during pay off.
• Take up the cable only half full on the drum.

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Hot set and ageing testing

Hot set elongation

During cable extrusion, the insulation material will be orientated, especially when extruding with a pressure
die technique onto a cold conductor. This orientation, close to the conductor, will be frozen-in since silane
crosslinking takes place below the melt temperature of the material. In some cases this can induce breaks
during hot set test. To avoid this phenomenon, we recommend that a tube on die should be used whenever
possible. When a pressure die technique is used we recommend preheating the conductor. The effect of
preheating is shown in figure XX, where the frozen-in stresses are visualised by polarized light. Many dark
stripes indicate a high level of built-in stresses.
The hot set specimen breaks due to the orientation phenomenon which occurs when hot set is measured at
200°C. When tested at 150°C, it is usually not a problem.

Conductor
side of
insulation

Cold conductor Preheated conductor

Typical tensile
strength at break: 10-12 Mpa 17-19 MPa
Elongation
at break: 250-350% 300-400%

Figure 3.
Influence of conductor preheating. Microscopic pictures of the cross-section of Visico cable insulation in
polarized light.

Heat ageing test

Before the ageing test, Visico must be fully crosslinked. If it is not sufficiently crosslinked, the material will
continue to crosslink during ageing. In order to prevent too high a variation in tensile/elongation properties
after ageing, steps should be taken to ensure that the samples are fully-crosslinked prior to ageing (i.e. you
might compare non-aged, not fully crosslinked samples with aged, fully-crosslinked ones, and the offset due
to different crosslink levels may yield misleading results). Figure YY illustrates the ageing properties based
on different crosslinking times.

Variation of elongation at break (%)

40
35
30
25
LE 4421+ 5% LE4438
20
15
10
5
0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Crosslinking time 90°C, H2O

Figure 4.
Influence of crosslinking time (90°C, H2O) on variation at break after ageing at 135°C, 7 days (LE4421+LE4438)
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 Borealis: A leading, innovative provider of plastics solutions

PAP21/GB WC 2005 04
Borealis is a leading, innovative provider of plastics solutions. Its technology shapes daily life products and
forms the basis of next generation innovation and creative development in plastics.

With EUR 4 billion revenue in sales and 4,500 employees, Borealis has more than 40 years of experience as
a reliable supplier of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) products. Borealis today is a partner to its
customers manufacturing and developing products such as food packaging, diapers, appliances, automotive
parts, distribution pipes for water, gas and sewage, power cables, sporting equipment and medical devices.

Borealis is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with innovation centres, customer service centres, and
main production sites in Europe and the Middle East. Borealis has representative offices and operations in Asia,
North and South America.

At its heart, the company’s four values of Responsible, Respect, Exceed and Nimblicity™, define its way of
doing business. For Borealis, success is driven by responsiveness, operational excellence and innovation.

Borstar® is the proprietary process technology supporting differentiated PE and PP products and is a registered
trademark of Borealis A/S, Denmark.

To learn more about Borealis visit www.borealisgroup.com

For further information, please contact your local Borealis representative.

Visico and Ambicat are trademarks of Borealis A/S, Denmark.

Disclaimer

The information contained herein is to our knowledge accurate and reliable as of the date of publication. Borealis extends no warranties and makes no
representations as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and assumes no responsibility regarding the consequences of its use or for
any printing errors. Our products are intended for sale to industrial and commercial customers. It is the customer's responsibility to inspect and test our products in
order to satisfy himself as to the suitability of the products for the customer's particular purpose. The customer is also responsible for the appropriate, safe and
legal use, processing and handling of our products. Nothing herein shall constitute any warranty (express or implied, of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, compliance with performance indicators, conformity to samples or models, non-infringement or otherwise), nor is protection from any law or patent to be
inferred. No statement herein shall be construed as an endorsement of any product or process. No one is authorised to make representations or give warranties or
assume any other liabilities on behalf of Borealis except if in writing and signed by a duly authorised Borealis employee.Insofar as products supplied by Borealis or
its subsidiary companies are used in conjunction with third party materials, it is the responsibility of the customer to obtain all necessary information relating to the
third party materials and ensure that Borealis’ products when used together with these materials are suitable for the customer’s particular purpose. No liability can
be accepted in respect of the use of Borealis’ products in conjunction with other materials. The information contained herein relates exclusively to our products
when not used in conjunction with any third party materials.

Borealis A/S
Parallelvej 16, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark)
Telephone: +45 45 96 60 00, Fax: +45 45 96 61 23
www.borealisgroup.com
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