>>My understanding is that a crimp does a cold weld of the
>>various bits, and as such is a reliable connection. It only
>>gets unreliable if the crimp space is not fully filled, so
>>that the wires can move and work loose or allow contamination in.
>
>
>I was taught in my apprenticeship at a railway signalling company
>that crimps were suitable only for stranded wire.  When crimped,
>stranded wire easily spreads out to fill the available space
>inside the crimp.  When a solid core wire is crimped, it will not
>flow in the same way unless extremem pressure is applied.  This
>means the gas tight connection occurrs only one two points of the
>wire, and as the wire flows with age into the remainging space
>within the crimp, the joint will loosen and fail.

What you describe fails my description of the "crimp space being fully
filled", a process that the stranded wire does more or less automatically,
as you point out.

However if the crimp connection receiving the wire is correctly manufactured
for the diameter of the solid wire then a good crimp should be possible.

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