An experimental study on the interaction between braiding structural parameters and their effects on ropes mechanical properties

Braided rope configuration and properties are the main key factors to consider on choosing it for various industrial applications. Rope's structure is characterized by high axial tensile strength combined with flexibility. The mechanical properties of ropes are greatly influenced by braiding process settings which have crucial effects on their functional performance. In this study, 27 types of braided polyester ropes were produced and divided into three groups according to their structural parameters and braiding settings, which include take-up and tension rates, yarn count, braid pattern, number of spindles and carriers' settings. The effects of changing these parameters on braid angle, repeat length, linear density, and mechanical properties such as tensile stress, strain and tensile modulus were investigated. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate the results using multiple regression analysis, F-test, surface and contour plots to illustrate the relation and the interaction between variables that have significant effects on the ropes' properties and to assess their performance. The results indicated that increasing the take-up rate leads to increase the ropes' braid angle. Whereas, increasing the tension leads to obtain ropes of low linear density with high stress and modulus. Ropes of lower strain were attained by increasing the take-up and decreasing the tension rates. Furthermore, the rope sample produced with pattern 2/2 using the high take-up and medium tension rate achieved the highest mechanical properties of high stress, modulus with low strain among all rope samples in the three groups.