I wonder what would cause the inductor to be exposed as in the pic (right side). The original inductor sample is on the left side in pic

 

It's possible it overheated and the coating was very thin.

Or some international conspiracy involving the FBI and CIA as well as the martians...

 

The outer coating is a heat-shrinkable material; if you heat it too much, it will shrink to the point that it tears.
/mike

 

-International conspiracy ? How come ?

-Overheat as is too much current flow ? Is it still usable ?

 

If there is still continuity through it, and the enamel coating on the inductor wire isn't cracked, then it should work fine.

If you have access to an LCR meter, you could measure it to be sure it is still the correct value.

 

-International conspiracy ? How come ?

Sorry, it was a joke. In so far as you could spend a long time figuring out why it did that, or you could just replace it. Unless it happens again, you can be pretty sure it is a one-off occurrence.