overmolded cable brings cable assembly reliability to a new level by virtue of packaging technology integration. The bending cycle life of TPU overmolded cables in industrial robots can reach up to 10 million times (2 million times for common PVC sheaths), and torsional strength can be increased to ±180°/m (IEC 61076-2-101 standard). At the same time, signal transmission bit error rate is reduced from 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁹. For example, in the repeated 10G acceleration movement, Kuka robot’s overmolded cable used has been subjected to the actual operating environment for 5 years, and the failure rate is only 0.03 times/thousand hours, 98% lower than ordinary cables.
Environmental tolerance was significantly enhanced. The high-temperature PA66 material overmolded cable in the engine compartment of the vehicle subjected to the extreme temperature change test from -40℃ to 150℃, the insulation resistance remains > 10GΩ (original value 12GΩ), and the tensile strength retention rate is > 92% after the oil resistance test (ASTM D471 standard, soaking in IRM 903 oil for 70h). Upon subjecting Tesla’s BMS high-voltage wiring harness to this process, the metal contact corrosion area of the salt spray test (5% NaCl, 480h) dropped from 3.2mm² to 0.05mm² in the traditional structure, and impedance variation was < 0.5mΩ, meeting the automotive electronics requirement of ISO 16750-5.
Signal integrity optimization is a significant breakthrough. 5G base station AAU’s overmolded RF cable (using low dielectric LCP material) for the 28GHz band, insertion loss is compressed from 0.8dB/m of standard coaxial cable to 0.25dB/m, and the standing wave ratio (VSWR) is reduced from 1.35 to 1.05. Huawei’s test data shows that the technology expands the coverage radius of the base station by 18% and reduces power consumption by 12%. Medical endoscope’s overmolded small coaxial line (outer diameter: 0.8mm) controls crosstalk (XTalk) below -60dB for 4K/60Hz video transmission, a 20dB improvement from non-package assembly.
Mechanical protection performance restores the margin of safety. Military overmolded cable (in accordance with MIL-STD-202G standard) resists 50G mechanical shock (half sinusoidal waveform, pulse width: 6ms), conductor breakage failure rate is reduced from 23% to 0.5%. The Undersea robot’s power cord that is overmolded (IP68 rating) runs for 2,000 hours at 6,000 meters of water pressure (60MPa) with an insulation resistance of > 5ω, whereas traditional sealing processes break at 3,000 meters of water seepage. After the application of the technology in a deep-sea expedition mission, the maintenance time for the equipment was extended from 3 months to 2 years and the operating cost and maintenance was reduced by 62%.
Production efficiency and cost advantage go hand in hand. The automotive wiring harness overmolded process consolidates the original 12 assembly processes (45 minutes each piece) into one in-mold molding (90 seconds), which doubles the yield from 88% to 99.9%. Bosch Group production figures show that the technology reduces the cost of making one ECU connector by 40% (from €1.2 to €0.72) and reduces the waste rate by 82% employing a system of material recovery (TPU remixing ratio of 30%).
Long-term use scenario of chemical corrosion resistance. The hardness of the outer coating decreased only by 3 Shore A (from 85A to 82A) upon exposure for 500 hours to 98% sulfuric acid vapor (80 ° C), and the PVC sheath was completely embrittleed with the same treatment. In ExxonMobil refinery, the lifetime of such cables in sour oil and gas conditions has been improved from six months to five years, and replacement costs have been saved by $1.2 million/year.
The emerging technology trends are toward functional integration. In 2023, Leoni Group’s smart overmolded cable (integrated optical fiber + copper cable + sensor) can be employed to monitor strain (accuracy ±0.01%), temperature (±0.5℃) and current (±1mA) in real-time with data transmission rates up to 100Gbps. NASA utilized this technology for application in the Artemis program to save rover cable mass by 45% (from 2.1kg/m to 1.15kg/m) while offering self-diagnosis (fault location accuracy ±5cm).