Electric wire having a PTFE covering that is robust and that has a low dielectric constant, and a method and a tool for manufacturing the same

Abstract

An electric wire that has a conductor held by spacers in a covering of polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE), continuous cells being formed between the covering, the spacers, and the conductor. In an axial section, the majority of the PTFE fibers of the spacers point in a substantially radial direction, thereby imparting excellent robustness to the spacers. A method of manufacturing such an electric wire, in which method an extrudate of PTFE is caused to pass through an extrusion passage around the conductor in such a manner as to form the covering; so that: upstream from an expansion section, the covering is formed by a guide; and downstream from this section, the cells are formed by section members, the spacers being formed by filling expansion channels situated between walls of the section members.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.