There is ... an absolute ton of information about determining the type of cord in a book by the Textile Institute, published in their "Handbook of Fibre Rope Technology" by McKenna, Heale and O'Hear, Chapters 1, 2, 4, 9 & 10 at least.
Hmm, that could explain the shortage of information, it is sometimes the case that once a definitive document has been published, everyone defers to it, thereby creating a natural suppression of alternative texts. This would be no issue if the handbook were on general distribution.
... Besides, if the work covers five chapters (at least) then it is probably too detailed to be of interest to most knot tiers.
This is hardly the case: the book has maybe nothing expressly about making the
determination of fibre type--not at all in the sense of the work I drew from, the
Cordage Institute's
Fiber Rope Technical Information and Application Manual (CIB .4),
a work of a seemingly proud organization that however presents it with some bothersome
words such as "Anyone making use of the information contained herein assumes all liability
arising from such use[.]" and "Quoting or excerpting any portion of this manual without
specific authorization is prohibited"--and I shall now go to Hades for these two offences.
--terrific resource THIS is, geesh. H.A. McKenna (pres. of Tension Technology
Inc.) is a main contributor to this work as well.
I would be interested in Kevlar and Polybenzoxylene (sp?) (PBO)
"PBO" is the correct spelling. (One could sprain a tongue with some of these names.)
Hmm, they don't burn or melt (though I think some recent knots book gave a "melting"
temperature), and PBO's charring temp. is somewhat higher even than aramid's.
Interestingly, the CI High Temperature Working Limit given for aramid is 350^F
which is but 50^F higher than that for manila-sisal-cotton. (And they are equal for
cold-- -100^F !?) With the hi-tech revolution, there has been much burying of cables
to
wire this area, and so one can find cable-pulling tape (solid, thin, tape in a
couple sizes (9-12mm?)) which is mostly a lubricated polyester (which lubricant
can be felt on one fingers after putting the tape aside), but also Kevlar. I got
one such piece, and did the "not-burn" test--it didn't. (-;
I think that in some cases, though, burning can be problematic with added
treatments and mixed fiber types--obviously w/the polycombo (PES & PP)
ropes. Hmm, I have much CoEx rope (PP+PE), and should see whether
it favors one or the other components' characteristics.
I seem to recall one burn test where the subject didn't burn "appropriately".
Reportedly, there are commercially available
stain testing kits (for
when burn testing isn't feasible), though the capability to distinguish
types might be limited to a few (e.g., it might treat PP & PE alike, and
not treat aramids/LCAP/PBO at all).
--dl*
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