What is a Wire Rope? Understanding Types and Uses

WIRE ROPE SERVICES

WHAT IS A WIRE ROPE?

Wires are the basic building blocks of a wire rope. They lay around a “center” in a specified pattern in one or more layers to form a strand. The strands lay around a core to form a wire rope. The strands provide all the tensile strength of a fiber core rope and over 90% of the strength of a typical 6-strand wire rope with an independent wire rope core.

Characteristics like fatigue resistance and resistance to abrasion are directly affected by the design of strands. In most strands with two or more layers of wires, inner layers support outer layers in such a manner that all wires may slide and adjust freely when the rope bends.

As a general rule, a rope that has strands made up of a few large wires will be more abrasion resistant and less fatigue resistant than a rope of the same size made up of strands with many smaller wires. The basic strand constructions are illustrated below. In the example, each individual wire is arranged around a central wire to form a 7-wire strand. Six of these strands are formed around a central core to make a wire rope. The rope is specified as 6×7 (6/1) – i.e. six strands each of seven wires.

components of a wire rope
Wire Rope Parts

SAFETY
INSTRUCTIONS

Wire rope will fail if worn out, shock loaded, overloaded, misused, damaged, improperly maintained or abused

• Always inspect wire rope for wear, damage or abuse before use
• Never use a wire rope which is worn out, damaged, corroded or abused
• Never overload or shock load a wire rope
• Use the correct design factor for the application
• Inform yourself: Read and understand the machinery manufacturers handbook and guidance from the wire rope manufacturer
• Refer to applicable directives, regulations, standards and codes concerning inspection, examination and rope discard criteria

WIRE ROPE SIZING

Ropes are referred to by a diameter size. The correct way to measure a wire rope is across the widest point, ‘The Crown”