Insulation Tubing Selection by Application
Buyers who start from a catalogue page usually buy twice: once for the size and once for the property they missed. This hub starts from the assembly. Eight groups below: what goes wrong in that position, which product families answer it, the inputs that decide the size, and the caution that trips most first-time buyers. Deeper buying logic lives on the linked solution pages.
Wire harness
Problem / environment. Bundles rub on edges, pass near heat, and get opened at connectors years later.
Candidate families. Polyolefin tubing (single- and dual-wall), PET braid, textile wraps, silicone tubing at hot spots.
Key selection inputs. Largest OD to slide over, smallest OD to grip, worst continuous temperature, flexing or not, fluid contact.
Caution. A braid is not insulation, if the position needs a dielectric wall, the braid supplements the wire jacket, it does not replace it.
Families → dual-wall tubing · halogen-free tubing · PET braid · textile wrap · silicone tubing. Full logic → Wire Harness solution.
Cable joint & termination
Problem / environment. A stripped-back cable end must regain insulation and keep water out: buried, in a pit, or in air.
Candidate families. Heat-shrink accessory kits (polyolefin), cold-shrink accessory kits (silicone), moulded caps and boots, stress-control parts at MV.
Key selection inputs. System voltage class, cable type and cross-section, core count, insulation OD, indoor/outdoor, termination or joint, heat allowed on site.
Caution. A kit is a system: component substitution inside a rated termination or joint voids the design assumptions.
Families → 0.6/1 kV heat-shrink kits · 8.7/15 kV heat-shrink kits · 26/35 kV heat-shrink kits · 8.7/15 kV cold-shrink kits · 0.6/1 kV cold-shrink kits · terminal head caps · breakout boots. Full logic → Cable Joint solution.
Busbar & switchgear
Problem / environment. Live copper bar with bolted joints needs touch protection and defined creepage in a panel that gets warm.
Candidate families. Heat-shrink busbar casing (MPG10 / MPG35), snap-on insulating tube for retrofit, moulded connection boxes at joints.
Key selection inputs. Bar width × thickness, voltage class, phase colour scheme, indoor/outdoor, whether the bus is energised during work.
Caution. The voltage class belongs to the whole arrangement (casing plus geometry plus clearances) not to the tube material name.
Families → MPG35 casing · MPG10 casing · snap-on tube · MPH connection box. Related page → Busbar solution.
Automotive & EV
Problem / environment. Harnesses see engine heat, fluids, vibration and, in EVs, high-voltage runs close to battery and inverter hardware.
Candidate families. Silicone tubing at flex points, fiberglass/silicone sleeves near exhaust, PET braid for abrasion, dual-wall adhesive tubing at connectors, PTFE family in fluid paths.
Key selection inputs. Zone temperature, fluid names, flex cycles, connector bulge sizes, halogen-free requirement for cabin routing.
Caution. Silicone's elasticity does not make it tough. Pair it with a braid where the harness can be pulled or abraded.
Families → silicone tubing · silicone-coated fiberglass · PTFE/FEP/PFA tubing · halogen-free FR tubing. Related page → Automotive & EV solution.
Energy storage (ESS)
Problem / environment. Pack and rack builds need busbar covers, harness protection, edge insulation and grounding identification supplied against a drawing, batch after batch.
Candidate families. Busbar casing, dual-wall tubing, PTFE tubing, fiberglass fire sleeve, green-yellow grounding tubing.
Key selection inputs. Pack drawing or BOM, DC voltage class, cell-adjacent temperature, cut lengths, marking and documentation per batch.
Caution. Flame and dielectric claims for a battery application must trace to the batch test report: ask which report ships with the goods.
Families → busbar casing · dual-wall tubing · PFA tubing · fiberglass fire pipe. Full logic → ESS Insulation solution.
Motor / transformer / industrial equipment
Problem / environment. Lead exits and internal wiring run hot and stay assembled for years; access for repair is expensive.
Candidate families. Polyimide/fiberglass sleevings, silicone-coated fiberglass, high-density insulation sleeves, silicone tubing.
Key selection inputs. Continuous and peak lead temperature, diameter over the lead stack, required dielectric class, installation access.
Caution. Match the sleeve rating to the actual lead temperature near the winding, not to the machine's ambient rating.
Families → polyimide sleevings · silicone-coated fiberglass · high-density sleeves. Related page → Industrial Equipment solution.
High-temperature leads
Problem / environment. Heater, sensor and furnace leads exceed what any polymer shrink tube tolerates.
Candidate families. PTFE/FEP/PFA tubing to +260 °C, fiberglass and aluminum-foil composites above that, polyimide to +400 °C.
Key selection inputs. Peak temperature at the hottest point, flexing at the exit gland, chemical vapours present.
Caution. Read the rating at the hottest spot, not the average: a single hot point above the band decides the family.
Families → fluoropolymer tubing · polyimide sleeving · foil fiberglass pipe · inner-fiber silicone sleeve.
Abrasion / mechanical protection
Problem / environment. The insulation is fine; the jacket wears through from rub, edge contact or motion.
Candidate families. PET braid, textile wraps, spiral fiberglass bellows, cross-braid woven sleeve, plus heat-shrink where a fixed, conforming cover is preferred.
Key selection inputs. Bundle diameter range, motion type (continuous flex or static rub), install access, whether connectors must stay openable.
Caution. Choose non-shrink wraps when the harness must stay serviceable; heat shrink is permanent. Cutting it off is the only maintenance path.
Families → PET braid · velcro/zipper textile · spiral fiberglass · cross-braid sleeve · zipper heat-shrink tube.
Electronics & PCB
Problem / environment. Board-level leads, component covering and colour identification at low voltage and small diameters.
Candidate families. Thin-wall polyolefin, PVC at battery packs and finishes, PFA at precision points, extruded fiberglass at hot components.
Key selection inputs. Component OD, identification colour, reflow-adjacent temperature, halogen requirement.
Caution. Small diameters amplify ratio errors: at Φ2 mm a 15% grip error is 0.3 mm, measure the part, not the drawing.
Families → thin-wall polyolefin · PVC tube · PFA tube · extruded fiberglass.
Frequently asked questions
How do I route my requirement to the right application group?
Ask where the part sits and what must not happen to it. A cable that moves inside a machine routes to wire harness protection. A splice buried or in air routes to cable joint and termination. A bare copper bar in a panel routes to busbar and switchgear. A battery pack or rack routes to energy storage. Then open that group here and shortlist the families before naming any product.
Can one tubing size serve several application groups?
Physically the same tube can appear in several groups, but the qualifying requirements differ by group. A 2:1 polyolefin sleeve may insulate an electronics bundle and a panel harness, yet the harness version needs a flame class declared and the electronics version may not. Select by the group's inputs - temperature, fluid, flexing, voltage class - not by size alone.
What information should I send with an application enquiry?
Four things: the assembly context (what the sleeve covers and what sits next to it), the worst continuous environment (temperature, fluids, UV, flexing), any voltage class the position must support, and the installation constraint (heat allowed or not, space, whether the run is already built). With those four inputs we name candidate families and return sizes instead of a catalogue.