Polymer research; from tires to cables.

What's good for making packages last until they're opened, or even for making automobile tires last 50,000 miles, isn't necessarily what's best for insulating utility cables. After all, the rubber on your car is probably good for only about four years, and the material that goes into throwaway packaging has an even shorter shelf life. Yet since World War II, automobile and packaging interests have been among the prime movers behind research on polymer technology. The utility industry has had no choice but to use the resulting polymers as raw materials for electrical equipment.

Making the best of what they have had to work with, manufacturers for the utility industry …