Wire rope fracture by exceptional damage

At first sight a broken wire rope with a lot of broken wires led to the wrong conclusion of fatigue as the cause of the breakage. Although most wire fractures were without necking, the service life of the rope was too short for fatigue. A closer examination of these broken wires revealed that the surface of the fractures were too coarse-grained for fatigue fractures. Microscopic examination showed that the metallic structure and the hardness near the fractures were changed. The core wires were found to be discolored. These things pointed to electric conduction through the rope.

 Author(s): Wiek, L.