Cooperator’sshare genuineenthusiasm over its advantages

By Mike Crouse

We’ve watched with great in-terest as the testing continues

on synthetic rope over the past threeyears of testing at Oregon StateUniversity (OSU), in Corvallis, Ore-gon. The promise of light weight,strength, characteristics similar tosteel cable in terms of elasticity,have obvious benefits to anyonewho’s hauled, moved, or strung ca-ble at any point in life. The object inall the testing is helping to antici-pate what synthetic line can do inreal life circumstances. That in-cludes its physical characteristics,and capabilities, breaking strength,how much it stretches, etc. in addi-tion to actual field trials for on theground practical testing on whatdoes and does not work.

We recently attending a SyntheticRope Cooperators Meeting, com-prised of loggers who have been in-volved in the testing and practicaluse of the synthetic rope in real life,field conditions. The group collectedat Peavy Hall, home of OSU’s Schoolof Forestry, to compare experiences,talk with those involved in the re-search, and discuss other areas offurther exploration, and how to ad-dress problems that may have sur-faced.

First some review on the materialbeing tested. AMSTEEL-BLUEmanufactured by Samson RopeTechnologies out of Ferndale, Wash-ington (www.samsonrope.com). Cer-tainly, there are other synthetic

ropes on the market, however Sam-son Rope stepped up in the researchand provided a lot of their own time,energy, and materials to this project.

First, the rope itself is ultra highmolecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) fiber rope. Thepolyethylene fibers are combined toyarns and the yarns are combinedinto strands that are formed intovarious rope constructions includingtwisted, plaited, and braided. AM-STEEL-BLUE is a 12-strand braid-ed rope. This synthetic rope has ahigher breaking strength to weightratio than steel, by a factor of 9 to10. Other favorable characteristicsinclude high flexibility, low stretch(other than the newly formed eye-splice), and a specific gravity less

than one (floats), and can be easilyspliced. Coatings can be applied toincrease resistance to abrasion, pre-vent contamination, and increaseease of splicing used ropes.

The synthetic is generally thesame material commonly used forfuel containers.

Weight difference

The most obvious plus ofsynthetic rope is the differ-

ence in weight. For a given diame-ter, steel wire rope is 7.5 (extra im-proved plow steel, EIPS) to 9(swaged) times as heavy as a compa-rable length of AMSTEEL-BLUErope (See Fig. 1). The synthetic ropeis also flexible and does not produce“jaggers” (sharp, broken wires with-

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(Continued on Page 31)See “Synthetic Rope”

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STEVE PILKERTON (right) and Dr. John Garland(to his left) explain applications for syntheticrope during the field trip segment of the coop-erators meeting held at OSU in Corvallis, wherethey’ve been testing and using the Samson’sAMSTEEL BLUE over the past three years.

Synthetic rope looking very positive

in a strand) as handling hazardscommon to wire rope. The cost isabout four to six times that of wirerope in the specially produced quan-tities now available. The offshoredrilling (anchoring) marine towingindustries use similar syntheticropes in applications parallel to log-ging.

The breaking strength of AM-STEEL vs. steel products is signifi-cantly higher than in previous syn-thetics as well (See Fig. 2). Compar-isons between published breakingstrengths for some common loggingwire rope grades and constructions(EIPS and swaged) and those pub-lished for AMSTEEL-BLUE. Atmedium rope sizes (0.5-0.625 inchdiameter), synthetic strength ex-ceeds both EIPS and swaged wire

ropes. At larger diameters, the syn-thetic advantage diminishes toabout equal EIPS strength at a 1-inch diameter. Rope elongation isalso shown for AMSTEEL-BLUEunder loads in Table 1 (on Page 8).These elongation values are an in-crease of 0.3 feet per 100 feet of rope

length at loadings shown (anabsolute percentage differ-ence of 0.3 percent more thansteel constructed ropes).

The testing protocols allowfor a buried eye-splice as theend connectors for the testsamples and the ropes nearlyalways break at the end ofthe splice. Thus, the reportedultimate rope strength is thestrength of the eye-splice endconnector You cannot usecompression fittings on thesynthetic ropes. Instead eye

splices are called for. In tests,low temperature epoxies inpoured sockets, tested forpulling strength, failed muchbelow the strength of therope. More tests with differ-ent epoxies are planned.(Check the article in LoggersWorld appearing in theMarch 2002 issue).

First part of the daywe traveled to the OSU

forest just outside Corvallis,which is used as an outdoorclassroom as well as a work-

ing laboratory for the AMSTEEL-BLUE. Dr. John Garland, who head-ed the meeting, led the two vans outto the site where we met and heardfrom Steve Pilkerton whose involvedin the day to day field work. Theyhave a Kubota K-300 mounted on aKubota M6950DT tractor, and aKoller carriage, which is used intheir logging.

Pilkerton explained, “...we have a3/8ths mainline that’s now fully syn-thetic.” He elaborated, “One of thebenefits right off in the design (ofthe Koller) was to spool about 1,100feet, and we have almost 1,300 ft. ofsynthetic on the mainline drum andthere’s still flange space if we want-ed to spool more. So getting maybemore capacity as some do withswedge line and additional strengthat a smaller diameter that allows uto spool an equal amount or more.”

They were also using syntheticlines for guylines, and to both guyand support intermediate supports...all accomplished with far less effortdue to the weight and strength ofthe synthetic line. The same obser-vation was repeated by other loggers

� Circle 47 On Inquiry Card – Pg. 38

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31FIGURE 2. Ultimate breaking strengths of common di-ameter ropes used in logging applications: comparisonof steel wire rope with AMSTEEEL-BLUE (UHMWPE)synthetic rope.

FIGURE ONE. Nominal breaking strength as a functinoof rope weight for rope diameters 0.5-1.0 inches.

Synthetic Rope(Continued from Page 30)

(Continued on Page 32)See “Synthetic Rope”

31

AMSTEEL in use as dropline onthis motorized carriage.

involved in the testing... a singletrip with all the line, down the hillto set up an intermediate support,as a huge improvement in time, ef-fort, and energy, to say nothing ofincreased production.

Clamping lines down, and tyinglines down, and terminations are allissues that most have figured outmethods which work well in thewoods, and are proving durable.

Once back in the classroomfor the afternoon, all the appli-

cations which the AMSTEEL hasbeen used in involving logging werepresented followed by an open dis-cussion on other approaches, andproblem solving.

When all was said and done, the

overall feeling from those loggerswho’ve actually been involved withthe AMSTEEL were enthusiastic,for all the above outlined reasons.

One of the applications, whichwill undergo testing this comingyear, is using the material for logtruck wrappers. “We think the syn-thetic wire wreappers has benefits,”said one of the participants. “Hugebenefits. Promising enough becausewe have elbow and shoulder injurieswith steel wrappers, similar to(baseball) pitcher type injuries.” Asit stands, both Oregon and Washing-ton have some issues on this materi-al’s use, as well as some interest.But implementation and considera-

tion will require a change in the law,which may be forthcoming as well.Driver ’s who have used some ofthese wrappers to date were skepti-cal at first, until they’d used them aday or two, and would then not wishto surrender them.

More testing and field use is inthe offing over the coming year.While the synthetic rope presentlyis a lot more expensive than steelrope, that is likely to change if thematerial becomes widely adopted,and in greater supply. The realquestion, assuming all other issuesof practicality are understood, iswhat will this new material do interms of production, speed of setups,

and ease of use, these benefits out-weigh the costs. At least early on,those who use it are very optimistic,to the point of relying on the materi-al day to day, and learning as theygo.

What we’d hope would result inthe very near future, is a user ’sguide of methods that work in thefield. And perhaps most interestingof all will be seeing the syntheticrope in regular use by loggers in thefield, whose record of innovation canonly be tapped when they have ac-cess to the rope’s use with the re-quirements of the day. It should bevery interesting to watch.

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AMSTEEL synthetic line being usedas a winch line in Éastern Oregon.The line is susceptible to being cut bysharp edges, but smoothing out sharpedges took care of the problem.

32

Synthetic Rope(Continued from Page 31)

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