What Is MI Cable?

How is MI Cable made? Mineral Insulated cable, abbreviated as MI Cable is a special cable that is designed with essential and critical circuit protection in mind. When it comes to critical electric systems, you don’t just use any cable. Currently, there are a few cables in the market that meet the industry codes and standards. One of the cables is the MI Cable, made from mineral-insulated technology as an alternative to polymeric methods or traditional construction.

In this article, you’ll learn about:

• The definition of the MI cable

Let’s dive right in.

1.What Is MI Cable?

Mineral insulated Cables (MI Cable) are a specialized variety of cables made of copper conductors enclosed by an insulated metal sheath, made of resistant material like Stainless steel or Inconel. Inorganic magnesium oxide powder insulates the sheath (MgO). Inside the MI wire, there are conductor wires separated and insulated by the Magnesium Oxide powder.

Figure 1: A named MI Cable

In other terms, the MI cable is also called ‘Metal Insulated Metal Sheath’ (MIMS) or ‘Mineral Insulated Copper Cable (MICC). Colloquially, it is known as pyro.

If you need to build a highly effective fire survival electrical cable system, the MI cable serves the purpose adequately. In fact, it is the only cable in the market that survives real-world fire situations.

Here are some of its remarkable features:

• The MI cable provides more than 2 hours of escape time during ‘real world’ fire circumstances. In other terms, it is called the 2-hour fire rated Mi cable.
• It is the only certified cable to pass the modern furnace tests (test DIN 4102 1000 °C 90 mins and the German standard ISO834-1)
• It’s the only approved and listed cable by UL2196 due to its ‘unrestricted installation.’
• You can apply the MI wiring cable anywhere apart from environments that corrode or mechanically damage the copper sheath. If you have to use it for underground runs, ensure there’s maximum protection from physical damage.
• Due to its flexibility, you can twist and bend this cable around obstacles to any angle of your choice, provided you maintain the minimum bending radius.
• The Mi cable is used in fire protection applications like fire pumps, smoke control systems, and alarm circuits.

Overall, these cables are applied in high temperature and pressure environments because of various reasons.

• They resist oxidation
• Their inflammability is low
• They have a high insulation resistance
• They are easily bent to any form without causing short circuits
• You can easily seal these cables when using them as control or extension cables in critical places