Characterization and validation testing of a high strength-to-weight ratio torque-balanced hybrid rope
Modern day engineering applications demand a lighter weight cost effective rope design without sacrificing the mechanical properties and usability characteristics. This paper presents a hybrid rope design, a blend of steel wires and synthetic fibres that brings synergetic characteristics for solving certain engineering problems. It is a 4- strand, high strength-to-weight ratio rope with a very low torque factor resulting in good rotation-resistance and torque-balance behaviour. The rope is characterized based on the validation testing plan for bending fatigue performance, residual strength, multilayer spooling behaviour, coefficient of friction, and termination efficiencies. The design features, prototype test results and value propositions of the rope are presented in this paper. The authors believe that after certain field validation, the hybrid rope technology would bring new opportunities for some challenging applications in deepshaft mining, deep-sea winching and other high-fall lifting applications where the selfweight of the rope may be a limiting factor.
Author(s): B. Pourladian and S. Munuswamy