Materials
POLYESTER
Polyester fibres are featured by high tenacity and good abrasion resistance. Lightweight and flexible, Polyester resists well to wrinkles and chemical/physical agents. All these characteristics, combined with the low coefficient of water absorption, make polyester ideal for a wide range of applications.
Il Kevlar® is the famous aramid fibre produced by Du Pont de Nemours. This fibre, featured by a recognisable gold yellow colour, outstands for high modulus and high heat resistance (it decomposes at over 400°C). Weight for weight, Kevlar® is 5 times stronger than steel and ensures good stability under load. This fibre is sensitive to UV light.
Vectran® is a high-performance multifilament yarn spun from liquid crystal polymer (LCP) produced by Kuraray Co.Ltd. This fibre exhibits good abrasion resistance, good high-temperature resistance and high tenacity and modulus. Besides ensuring minimal moisture absorption and outstanding vibration damping characteri-stics, Vectran® is very stable under static loads, showing negligible creep. Sensitive to UV light.
Developed and manufactured by Dutch DSM, Dyneema is often confused with Spectra®, a similar material, whose performances are slightly lower. Dyneema® is a high modulus polyethylene fibre, with exceptional characteristics in terms of tenacity (weight for weight, is over ten times stronger than steel), modulus and abrasion resistance. This material, featured by a remarkable light-weight (shows a lower density than water), ensures an excellent resistance to chemicals and environmental agents, and superior durability. The only real drawback of this material is its limited resistance to temperature.
PBO fibre, whose commercial name is Zylon®, manufactured by Toyobo Co., outstands for superior tenacity and modulus against aramid fibres and for a remarkable stability under constant load, which makes it suitable to replace steel rod for rigging. Easily recognisable by its distinctive gold colour (darker than Kevlar®), this fibre is featured by a great abrasion resistance and excellent heat-resistance, withstanding much higher temperatures than aramid fibres. PBO Zylon® is however very sensitive to UV light and moist. Caution is required for applications involving flex fatigue.
Belonging to Nylon family, Cordura® fibre is manufactured by Invista Textiles (UK) Ltd. Cordura® threads are featured by good light weight and good resistance to abrasion and traction. The material, thanks to its special texture, is rough to touch, so being suitable to all the applications where a good grip is required.
Available since 1987, Technora® is a very strong para-aramid fiber developed and produ-ced exclusively by Teijin Limited. This aromatic copolyamid is ideal for dynamic performance applications involving significant motion. Strong an light: weight for weight, Technora® is 8 times stronger than steel and 3 times stronger than fiberglass, polyester or nylon yarns. Stiff and highly oriented molecular structure leads to a high modulus of elasticity, low creep and low stress relaxation. Low thermal shrinkage, i.e., excellent dimensional stability. Technora® is highly resistant to acids, alkalis and organic solvents; not vulnerable to damage caused by steam or sea water.
POLYAMIDE
Polyamide is a material featured by a good wear resistance, good tenacity and above all, high elasticity. Polyamides fibers are suitable to all the applications where a high elastic absorption is required, such as for moorings or climbing ropes.
