Wire rope has advantages over chains such as being lighter weight, less susceptible to damage from jerks, and providing silent operation. Wire rope consists of multiple steel wires or strands helically wound around a core. Different core materials and strand constructions can provide characteristics like strength, flexibility, abrasion resistance, and fatigue resistance suitable for various applications. Proper selection of wire rope type, lay, and construction along with correct installation and maintenance can maximize rope performance and lifetime.

1. FLEXIBLE LOAD HANDLING ATTACHMENT: STEEL
WIRE ROPE
Advantages over chains:
Lighter weight
Less susceptibility to damage from jerks
Silent operation even at high working speeds
Greater reliability in operation

2. WIRE ROPES
Wire rope consists of multiple wires or strands, helically wound or
laid about an axis.
Wires, strands and cores are independent- that interact with each other
during service.
Wire ropes are designed in different steel grades, finishes
and a variety of constructions to attain the best balance
of strength, abrasion resistance, crush resistance,
bending fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance for
each application.
Strand

3. CORES
Almost all wire ropes are laid up over a core, Fibre Core (natural or synthetic),
Independent wire rope core or wire strand core (FC, IWRC or WSC):
Core
Wire ropes contd........

4. STRAND CONSTRUCTIONS:
Strands are designed with various combinations of wires and wire sizes to
produce the desired resistance to fatigue and abrasion. Generally, a small
number of large wires will have more abrasion resistant and less fatigue
resistant than a large number of small wires.
The basic strand has wires of the same size wound
around a centre.
Provides excellent abrasion resistance but less fatigue
resistance. When used with an IWRC, it also offers
excellent crush resistance over drums.
Small wires fill spaces between large wires to produce
crush resistance and a good balance of strength, flexibility
and resistance to abrasion
Outer layer of alternately large and small wires
provides good flexibility and strength but low
abrasion and crush resistance.

5. Many commonly used wire
ropes use combinations of
these basic constructions
Wire ropes contd........

6. Wire ropes contd........
LAYS OF WIRE ROPES
Lang lay is recommended for excavating, construction, and mining applications
including draglines, hoist lines. This is because of the Lang lay ropes are more
flexible than regular lay ropes. They also have greater wearing surface per wire
than regular lay ropes
Regular lay or Cross lay Lang lay or Parallel lay
Alternate lay or Reverse lay

7. Strength can be increased by:
• increasing the diameter of the wire rope
• increasing the tensile strength of the individual wires
• decreasing the air voids between the wires
• using a steel core construction.
Flexibility can be increased by:
• using more wires of a smaller diameter
• decreasing the tensile strength of the individual wires
• using a fiber core.
Robustness, or resistance to physical damage:
•increased by using fewer wires of a larger diameter
•using a steel core
•Coatings can be applied to protect against corrosion.
Characteristics of a wire ropes:
(1) Strength (2) Flexibility (3) Robustness
Wire ropes contd........

8. Selection of wire rope for a particular application:
a) Strength
b) Abrasion resistance
c) Flexibility
d) Resistance to crushing
e) Fatigue strength and corrosion resistance
Wire ropes contd........

9. Locked-coil steel wire ropes
Applications:
Cable ways, Cable cranes etc.
Advantages:
Smooth surface, Tightly packed wires and less flexible
Locked-coil
Semi Locked-coil

10. Wire Rope Size Measurement
Wire ropes contd........
Designation of a wire rope: 20 mm 6*19 (12/6/1) wire
Nominal diameter of wire rope : 20 mm
No. of strands: 6
No. of wires in each strand :19.
(may be formed by 12 wires over 6 wires with 01 core wire)

11. 6x7 Class Wire Rope
Strands: 6
Wires per strand: 7
Core: Fiber core
Lay: Regular or Lang
Finish: Bright or galvanized
6x19 Class Wire Rope
Strands: 6
Wires per strand: 19
Core: IWRC or fiber core
Lay: Regular or Lang
Finish: Bright or galvanized
6x19 Warrington with fiber core
6x19 Seale with IWRC
Stiff rope needs sheaves and
drums of large size.

12. Fleet angle in wire rope:
Range of Fleet angle for maximum efficiency and service:
< 1.5o for smooth drum
< 2o for grooved drum
Large fleet angle: results in excessive rubbing of the rope against
the flanges of the drum and the sheave groove, or crushing and
abrasion of the rope on the drum.

13. Factors Affecting Rope Performance:
•Multi-coiling
•Bad coiling
•Small diameter sheaves
•Oversize grooves
•Undersize grooves
•Excessive angle of fleet

14. Factors Influencing the lifetime of wire ropes:
type of wire ropes;
diameter of the drums and sheaves;
reverse bending
speeds with which the wire ropes run through the sheaves
ratio between normal working load and the maximum load in the wire ropes;
safety factor; being the ratio between the breaking load and the normal
working load
choice of the hardness in the groove of the sheaves;
fleet-angle between the wire rope and the sheave, respectively between the
drum groove and wire rope;
greasing or lubrication of the wire ropes and the frequency of greasing or
lubrication;
mechanical damage