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| Over the past 10 years advancement in
fiber technology and chemistry have created an entire new breed of 'high
strength' fibers. Names like "Spectra", "Dyneema", "Technora",
"Vectran", "Dacron", "Zylon" PBO, and "Kevlar"
became familiar within the fiber rope industry. Certainly, high strength
fiber ropes are starting to be introduced into application formerly dominated
by traditional steel wire ropes (e.g. as elevator ropes, as crane hoisting
ropes). The advantages of fiber ropes are obvious; low weight, non-conductivity,
easy and clean handling, non corrosive, to just name a few. Some rope may
even require smaller drums and sheaves as compared to their 'steel' cousins.
The drawback of UV degradation has been overcome by either compact overbraids
or special coatings. However, some compelling arguments still persists and
that is: ruggedness, abrasion-, cut-, and temperature resistance. These
points dictate that fiber ropes shall be used in 'controlled' environments
where these mechanics are either well understood or can be minimized. Fiber
ropes have an incredible 'fatigue' life; far higher than ropes made from
steel. The trick is to provide equipment which ensures that fiber rope can
perform as intended. Depending on the application one can choose a fiber
rope with a very high degree of 'energy absorption', commonly known as 'elongation',
or fiber rope types which have a energy absorption similar to steel; that
is very low elongation. In the 'steel world' we would classify this as the
'modulus of elasticity' however, synthetic fibers can not be quantified
by sqinch of material, and as such the 'old steel' engineering terms can
not be applied. The fiber rope community describes this as 'ft.lbs of energy
absorption per lbs. of rope'. And for all of you who want to 'know' just
go to our link "Engineering" to get more info on that subject. |
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