Enamelled copper wire - wonder material
 

The P&O Aurora ship has been effectively stuck in and around Southampton
Docks because
of a problem with its electric motor propulsion.
It made me think how reliable this most basic bits of technology is, relying
on just a few mil/thou of varnish/enamel on all those millions of
miles of copper wire in motors, transformers, solenoids and coils
dotted around the world. Hostile environments of heat, g-forces
and vibration etc.

electronic hints and repair briefs
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~diverse