Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects

KIMBER KABLE NAKED INTERCONNECTS INTRODUCED TO THE UK BY RUSS ANDREWS

Russ Andrews is introducing the flagship Kimber Kable Naked interconnects to the UK market.

The Kimber Kable Naked interconnect is so named because its construction is quite unlike many cables, in that the individual conductors are not covered in an insulating layer of polymer.

KIMBER KABLE NAKED INTERCONNECTS

The Naked conductors are uninsulated 24AWG solid core copper of the highest purity. They are annealed in a hydrogen-rich environment for maximum conductivity and plated with a thick layer of palladium as a metallic diffusion barrier, followed by a thick layer of 24ct gold to protect against corrosion.

Explaining the rationale behind the plating process, Russ Andrews says, “Traditional gold plating is often done directly onto the copper or with a nickel intermediate. Naked overcomes the limitations of both these processes, namely that when copper and gold are in contact, they can diffuse into each other, creating alloy components that have very poor conductivity. And the use of palladium prevents distortions that would be introduced via the magnetic properties of nickel.”

NO INSULATION

Perhaps the most obvious element of the Kimber Kable Naked design is the lack of insulation, which Russ Andrews elaborates on, “The dielectrics, or insulators, used in interconnect design have a negative impact on signal transmission. Polymer materials do an excellent job of protecting the conductors from corrosion and short circuit, but this is at the expense of absolute signal fidelity.”

Kimber Kable say that the design of Naked achieves the same outcome of protecting against corrosion through the palladium/gold plating process and, to prevent any short circuits, the six uninsulated “naked” conductors are braided with cotton strands in Kimber’s woven geometry, to secure and separate the conductors. The organic, un-dyed and un-waxed cotton acts as an insulator, possessing excellent dielectric properties – Kimber say it is as close as possible to the ideal dielectric constant measure of 1. The cotton measures 1.3, compared with 2.1 and 2.25 respectively for Fluorocarbon and Polyethylene insulators.

Having no insulating polymer applied to the gold surface of the conductor, they can truly be described as Naked. A high performance, wide-braid fabric jacket completes the cable providing additional mechanical damping and protection.