Hi Phil: - During a 30+ year career as a civil servant (or was that simple serpent) for the U. S. Navy one of my assignments was as Program Manager for the USN (COMNAVAIRSYSCOM) avionics repair (2M) program. In so doing I came in contact with Kapton insulated wire, and Yes, during the Southeast Asian peace games (held in/above Vietnam) we had some problems with Kapton insulation and, if memory serves me correctly, it was indeed banned for new designs. As I recall we tried to purge it from Naval Air Rework Facilities (NARF's) but were not completely successful due to the huge amounts on-hand and the high cost of procuring replacement materials (something about budget limitations and limited risk). I seem to recall some rumors that Kapton would ignite (after being conditioned by exposure to certain chemicals present in fuel systems) when exposed to impact such as small arms fire or other mechanical shock/vibration. I never had access to any of the test report data and therefore cannot confirm/deny the validity of the rumors. - Hope this helps muddy the already turbid water. Regards, Jim Moffitt ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################