For this high strength synthetic rope test we used a
SATEC™ Series horizontal style tester with a loading capacity of 4,800 kN (1.1 million lbf). Standards governing synthetic rope tests include ISO/DIS 2307, EN 919, ASTM D4268 and OCIMF's Prototype Rope Testing. Designed specifically for high strength rope, this tensile tester accommodates long specimens with elongation demands up to 4.8 m (16 ft). To hold the high strength rope during testing we used built-in pin and clevis style specimen holders. These grips allowed us to apply loading forces up to full frame capacity.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for wire, rope, and cable manufacturers is determining specimen stretch. Because specimens under load could break catastrophically, manually measuring elongation is dangerous. Our selection of specimen measuring devices work automatically and continually capture specimen elongation. For this test we used a string type transducer designed for high elongation materials. This rugged transducer is able to withstand violent specimen failures so that operators can report elongation for any percentage of breaking strength.
Additionally, we used one of our strain gauged load cell so that we could detect, graph, and analyze load changes that occur during prestretching, specimen setting, and failure. Combined with our 5500 control electronics the system uses closed loop servo control which enables testing at user-defined loading rates. Finally, we used
Partner™ Software to create test methods and capture results. The software's wizard driven set-up stepped us through cycling, proof loading, and loading to failure. Additionally, the software captures critical specimen data including cycle time, the rope's breaking strength, peak load, maximum elongation, and elongation at any percentage of breaking strength.