Here, at Geartech BR we import and sell several products of excellent quality. Among these products are films, polyester compounds, paper and insulating tapes. And it’s the latter that we want to talk about today, but in a slightly more technical way. If you want to know details about what an electrical insulator is, we invite you to continue reading!
There are certain types of materials that do not allow electricity to pass through them. This type of material is known as insulator or electrical insulator.
As an example of electrical insulation, we can mention plastic, wood, glass and rubber. These are considered to be good electrical insulators. That is why they are used to cover materials that carry electricity.
That plastic cover that surrounds the wires of electronic devices, or any other type of wire that is conductive of electricity, is an electrical insulator.
Its usefulness is to organize and control the conduction of electricity more efficiently and, mainly, to prevent accidents involving electric shocks that can cause serious damage, including death, depending on the electricity load.
An electrical insulator is a material that does not conduct electricity very well. It does not mean that it does not receive any kind of electric current, and does not transmit it. However, it does this ineffectively.
In addition to plastic and other materials that we have already mentioned, ceramic is also a great electrical insulator.
Placing a non-conductive material around a conducting path (involving a plastic copper wire) ends up isolating electrons from the outside environment.
Therefore, electrical insulators are non-conductive materials and important safety items when dealing with electricity.
Difference between conductor and electrical insulator
Now, let’s talk about the difference between a conductor and an electrical insulator.
In some types of atoms, especially those that make up metals (iron, gold, platinum, copper, silver and others), the last electronic orbit loses an electron with great ease. So its electrons are called free electrons.
These free electrons stray from the last electronic orbits and wander from atom to atom, with no definite direction. But the atoms that lose electrons also easily reacquire them from neighboring atoms, only to lose them moments later. Inside the metals, the free electrons roam between the atoms, in all directions.
Due to the ease of supplying free electrons, metals are used to make the wires of cables and electrical devices: they are good conductors of the flow of free electrons.
Other substances, such as glass, ceramics, plastic or rubber, do not allow the flow of electrons to pass through or allow only a small number of them to pass through. Its atoms have great difficulty in yielding or receiving free electrons from the last electron layers. This is the so-called electrical insulating material, used to cover wires, cables and electrical appliances.
As we said at the beginning, one of our specialties is to import and sell electrical insulating products for various purposes. Currently, our products are used by manufacturers of electric motors, transformers, cables, compressors, fans, etc.
To learn more about our services and products, please contact us. Our service team is ready to assist you and answer all your questions!
