What is Wire Rope Failure Analysis

Wire Rope Failure Analysis

Wire rope failure analysis entails a methodical investigation to ascertain the cause of a wire rope’s failure. It is essential in sectors like shipping, mining, and construction, where wire rope failures can have serious consequences for operational downtime and financial losses.

The preliminary investigation involves gathering information about the wire rope, including its type, material, manufacturing process, installation, operational conditions, service history, maintenance records, and the specifics of the failure incident. Visual examination can provide initial clues about the failure mechanism, while non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques like magnetic particle inspection or ultrasonic testing can detect internal defects or discontinuities. Material identification and characterization are crucial, as different materials have different properties and are susceptible to different failure mechanisms. Microscopic examination can reveal fatigue cracking or stress corrosion cracking, while mechanical testing determines tensile strength, elongation, or fatigue resistance. Chemical analysis, such as Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), can identify impurities or surface treatments that could have influenced the wire rope’s behavior.

Failure mode and root cause analysis can be used to identify factors like poor design, improper material selection, manufacturing defects, operational issues, or maintenance deficiencies. Report writing summarizes the findings, providing conclusions and recommendations for preventing future failures.

Wire Rope Failure Analysis is a service provided by a well-known testing and inspection company. In the testing and analysis of wire ropes used in diverse applications, our Professionals frequently take part. Wire ropes are subject to a wide range of deficiencies and failures because of the large diversity of service situations they are used in. Wire ropes should be regularly inspected by customers for wear and fatigue. If wire ropes are not utilized in accordance with factory specifications or when routine examinations for fatigue and wear are not correctly carried out, they will surely fail. When all wire ropes satisfy prescribed discard requirements, they are eventually taken out of service.

Failures connected to subpar output, adverse environmental consequences, and incorrect service applications may be revealed by wire rope examination. With the aid of cutting-edge labs, skilled engineers, and subject-matter experts, we regularly identify problems caused by the following factors:

H3  Typical Reasons of Failure

• Mechanical Bending Wear Fatigue Corrosion
• Breaking Shear
• External Injury
• Heat Injury
• Breakdown in internal wires
• Breaks in external wire
• Insufficient Lubrication
• Sheave Injury
• Drum Defects
• Overload

H3  Common testing methodologies and skills:

• Chemical Evaluation
• Mechanical Evaluation
• Visual Inspections
• Coating Analysis
• Metal-Specific Analysis
• Liquid Analysis
• Electron microscopy for scanning
• Microhardness