Abrasion resistant electrical wire

1. An electrical wire comprising:

a conductor; and

a covering disposed over the conductor wherein the covering comprises a thermoplastic composition and the thermoplastic composition comprises:

(i) a poly(arylene ether);

(ii) a polyolefin;

(iii) a block copolymer; and

(iv) a flame retardant

wherein the electrical wire has an abrasion resistance of greater than 100 cycles, as determined by the scrape abrasion specification of ISO 6722 using a 7 Newton load, a needle having a 0.45 millimeter diameters, and an electrical wire having a conductor with a cross sectional area of 0.22 square millimeters and a covering with a thickncss of 0.2 millimeters, and

wherein the thermoplastic composition has a tensile elongation at break greater than 30% as determined by ASTM D638-03 using a Type I specimen and a speed of 50 millimeters per minute, and a flexural modulus less than 1800 Megapascals (Mpa) as determined by ASTM D790-03 using a speed of 1.27 millimeters per minute, and

wherein the poly(arylene ether) and the polyolefin are present in amounts such that the weight ratio of the poly(arylene ether) to polyolefin is 1.0 to 1.6.

2. The electrical wire of claim 1 wherein the thermoplastic composition is essentially free of an alkenyl aromatic resin.

3. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic composition comprises a continuous polyolefin phase and a dispersed poly(arylene ether) phase.

4. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the polyolefin comprises polypropylene, high density polyethylene or a combination of polypropylene and high density polyethylene.

5. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the polypropylene comprises a polypropylene homopolymer, a polypropylene copolymer or a combination of a polypropylene homopolymer and a polypropylene copolymer.

6. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the high density polyethylene comprises homo polyethylene, a polyethylene copolymer or a combination of homo polyethylene and a polyethylene copolymer.

7. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the polypropylene has a melt flow rate of 0.4 grams per 10 minutes to 15 grams per 10 minutes when determined according to ASTM D1238 using powdered or pelletized polypropylene, a load of 2.16 kilograms and a temperature of 230° C.

8. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the high density polyethylene has a melt flow rate of 0.29 grams per 10 minutes to 15 grams per 10 minutes when determined according to ASTM D1238 using either powdered or pelletized high density polyethylene, a load of 2.16 kilograms and a temperature of 190° C.

9. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the polypropylene has a melting temperature greater than or equal to 134° C.

10. The electrical wire of claim 4 , wherein the high density polyethylene has a melting temperature greater than or equal to 124° C.

11. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the block copolymer comprises a diblock copolymer and a triblock copolymer.

12. The electrical wire of claim 11 , wherein the triblock copolymer and diblock copolymer have a weight ratio of 1:3 to 3:1.

13. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the flame retardant comprises an organic phosphate ester.

14. The electrical wire of claim 13 , wherein the organic phosphate ester comprises a bis-aryl phosphate having the Formula III:

wherein R, R 5 and R 6 are independently an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbons and R 1 –R 4 are independently an alkyl, aryl, arylalkyl or alkylaryl group having 1 to 10 carbons; n is an integer equal to 1 to 25; and s1 and s2 are independently an integer equal to 0 to 2.

15. The electrical wire of claim 13 , wherein the thermoplastic composition has a phosphorus content of 0.8 to 1.2 weight percent based on the combined weight of poly(arylene ether), polyolefin, block copolymer and organic phosphate ester.

16. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the poly(arylene ether) comprises a capped poly(arylene ether).

17. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic composition is substantially free of visible particulate impurities.

18. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic composition is substantially free of particulate impurities greater than 15 micrometers.

19. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the poly(arylene ether) has an initial intrinsic viscosity greater than or equal to 0.35 deciliter per gram as measured in chloroform at 25° C.

20. The electrical wire of claim 1 wherein the abrasion resistance is greater than or equal to 150 cycles.

21. The electrical wire of claim 1 wherein the tensile elongation is greater than or equal to 40%.

22. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the block copolymer comprises at least one block (A) and at least one block (B) and block (B) is a controlled distribution copolymer.

23. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the polyolefin is present in an amount by weight and the poly(arylene ether) is present in an amount by weight and the amount by weight of the polyolefin is less than the amount by weight of the poly(arylene ether).

24. The electrical wire of claim 1 , wherein the block copolymer comprises

a first block copolymer having an aryl alkylene content greater than or equal to 50 weight percent based on the total weight of the first block copolymer; and

a second block copolymer having an aryl alkylene content having an aryl alkylene content less than 50 weight percent based on the total weight of the second copolymer.

25. The electrical wire of claim 1 further comprising an intervening layer disposed between the conductor and the covering.

26. The electrical wire of claim 25 wherein the intervening layer comprises a foamed composition.

27. An electrical wire comprising:

a conductor; and

a covering disposed over the conductor wherein the covering comprises a thermoplastic composition and the thermoplastic composition comprises:

(i) a poly(arylene ether);

(ii) a polyolefin;

(iii) a block copolymer; and

(iv) a flame retardant

wherein the electrical wire has an abrasion resistance of greater than 100 cycles, as determined by the scrape abrasion specification of ISO 6722 using a 7 Newton load, a needle having a 0.45 millimeter diameters, and an electrical wire having a conductor with a cross sectional area of 0.22 square millimeters and a covering with a thickness of 0.2 millimeters, and

wherein the thermoplastic composition has a tensile elongation at break greater than 30% as determined by ASTM D638-03 using a Type I specimen and a speed of 50 millimeters per minute, and a flexural modulus less than 1800 Megapascals (Mpa) as determined by ASTM D790-03 using a speed of 1.27 millimeters per minute, and

wherein the block copolymer comprises a block that is a controlled distribution copolymer.