Aerospace Glossary Letter L

Lay – The length measured along the axis of a wire or cable required for a single strand (in stranded wire) or conductor (in cable) to make one complete turn about the axis of the conductor or cable.
Leakage Current – The undesirable flow of current through or over the surface of an insulation.
Life Cycle – A test to determine the length of time before failure in a controlled, usually accelerated, environment.
Limits of Error – The maximum deviation (in degrees or percent) of a thermocouple or thermocouple extension wire from standard emf-temperature to be measured.
Link – An optical cable with connectors attached to a transmitter and receiver (source and detector).
Local Area Network (LAN) – A baseband or broadband interactive bi-directional communication systems for voice, video or data use on a common cable medium.
Loc-Trac R – Alpha Wires registered trademark for a zipper tubing closure track which does not require any sealants to keep it closed.
Longitudinal Shields – A tape shield, flat or corrugated, applied parallel to the axis of the core being shielded.
Longitudinal Shrinkage – A term generally applied to shrink products denoting the discrete axial length lost through heating in order to obtain the recovered diameter.
Loop Resistance – The total resistance of two conductors measured round trip from one end.
Low Loss Dielectric – An insulating material that has a relatively low dielectric loss, such as polyethylene or Teflon.