Kiwi
08-24-2005, 11:58 AM
I ordered a 3/8 synth winh rope from www.winchline.com. It is the Viking Fire/Trail line combo. FYI, this is the exact same rope as the Warn product, at nearly half the cost. I also got the new high temp plastic fairlead for synth ropes. I called them up and they gave me a 10% discount for being in the Jeep club.
Just a bit of curisoity here. In reasearching synth ropes, I was reading some white papers on the AmSteel blue, or Dyneema. One of the biggest pitfalls of the Amsteel type of products has been heat, namely, the melting point at 150 degrees. Well, this is what I found:
'The weak bonding between olefin molecules allows local thermal excitations to disrupt the crystalline order of a given chain piece-by-piece, giving it much poorer heat resistance than other high-strength fibers. Its melting point is around 144 or 152 degrees Celsius, and according to DSM, it is not advisable to use UHMWPE fibers at temperatures exceeding 80 to 100°C for long periods of time. It becomes brittle at temperatures below -150°C.' see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema
The operative word is Celsius. 150 degrees Celsius translates into about 350 degrees F. I don't know how every manufacturer of synth winch rop has come to the conclusion that the melting point is 150 degrees F
Also, the fiber used in the X-Line product, while being more heat resistance, is slightly weaker (not much, though) but the key point I found interesting was that it said exposure for constant sunlight for a period of 3 months degraded the strength by as much as 50%. (pdf file - ttp://www.twaron.com/pdf/Technora-Cover2.pdf)
Also, I found in my research that AmSteel fiber is highly UV resitive, contrary to what is sometimes said about it.
All of this goes to show just how confusing it is to really make an educated choice when shopping for products like this. You really have to clear away all of the marketing verbage and try to find the facts...
Just a bit of curisoity here. In reasearching synth ropes, I was reading some white papers on the AmSteel blue, or Dyneema. One of the biggest pitfalls of the Amsteel type of products has been heat, namely, the melting point at 150 degrees. Well, this is what I found:
'The weak bonding between olefin molecules allows local thermal excitations to disrupt the crystalline order of a given chain piece-by-piece, giving it much poorer heat resistance than other high-strength fibers. Its melting point is around 144 or 152 degrees Celsius, and according to DSM, it is not advisable to use UHMWPE fibers at temperatures exceeding 80 to 100°C for long periods of time. It becomes brittle at temperatures below -150°C.' see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema
The operative word is Celsius. 150 degrees Celsius translates into about 350 degrees F. I don't know how every manufacturer of synth winch rop has come to the conclusion that the melting point is 150 degrees F
Also, the fiber used in the X-Line product, while being more heat resistance, is slightly weaker (not much, though) but the key point I found interesting was that it said exposure for constant sunlight for a period of 3 months degraded the strength by as much as 50%. (pdf file - ttp://www.twaron.com/pdf/Technora-Cover2.pdf)
Also, I found in my research that AmSteel fiber is highly UV resitive, contrary to what is sometimes said about it.
All of this goes to show just how confusing it is to really make an educated choice when shopping for products like this. You really have to clear away all of the marketing verbage and try to find the facts...