Wire Rope Failure

Wire Rope Failure

Specimen
9/16-inch diameter; 8 x 26 Cushion Pac 8 high-performance wire rope.

Material
Improved plowed steel.

Background
The wire rope was used on a hoist cable from a 110-foot crane in the shipping area of a manufacturing plant. The wire rope fractured while lifting bundles weighing approximately 28 percent of the maximum recommended load capacity of the crane.

Service Life
Six months.

Findings
The majority of the breaks in the wire rope occurred in a similar region of the strand’s helix. This damage would indicate that the fracture had initiated by bending fatigue, which would load the wires repeatedly in one plane. Multiple fatigue breaks eventually led to the ultimate catastrophic failure of the wire rope.