When it comes to damage in wire rope and cable products, some of the most common occurrences are abrasion, bird caging, and corrosion. Alongside abrasion, peening and corrosion also typically occurs. In today’s blog we will be talking about each of these factors of damage, how the issues occur, and how to prevent them from continuing to happen. Though wear does occur naturally, regular inspection, maintenance, and equipment repair will ensure appropriate cycle life for your cable products while also minimizing risks and failures.

Abrasion, Peening, & Corrosion:

Abrasion, peening, and corrosion typically impact the outer surfaces of wire rope. Abrasion is a form of metal loss or erosion. Abrasion commonly occurs when your wire rope contacts other metallic surfaces or passes over a drum or sheave. Peening occurs from the same factors and is described as metal deformation. To avoid abrasion and peening, choosing the correct material and size for sheaves in your applications is crucial. Sheaves that are heavily worn or badly corrugated will expedite wear and friction, leading to individual cable wires breaking down and pressing together. Sheaves that are improperly lubricated will also cause pitting in the cable surface. Pitting will make your cable vulnerable to corrosion or rust, severely shortening your cable life.  Even a brand new cable is susceptible to premature wear if they are not maintained correctly, and paired with appropriate pulleys.

Bird Caging:

Similar to other forms of wire rope damage, sheaves are a large factor in bird caging. Bird caging is a form of wire rope distortion that leads to individual outer strands of a cable to unravel and expand, creating a bird cage shape at the point of damage. Sheaves can cause this issue when they impart unintentional rotation on the cable. When a non-rotation resistant cable experiences torsion caused by excessively tight, or incorrectly positioned sheaves, it triggers the outer cable strands to lift away from their normal position. If you see bird caging, you should replace your cable right away to prevent any further damage to your application. 

Kinking:

Kinking is a permanent deformation of strands in wire rope caused by unintended bending and twisting. Typically, the issue occurs when your wire rope is not installed correctly. If the rope is twisted in a tight loop and then snapped back to a straight direction it will often causing bending and kinking.  Though kinks often result from improperly handling or installing wire rope, they can also appear during service if a heavy load is released suddenly, or if a wire rope bends around too small of a sheave. We recommened choosing a larger sheave when possible, as sheaves that are too small will create bending and friction on your wire rope. While most kinks show obvious signs of catastrophic failure, others may appear insignificant or repairable through re-straightening. However, no matter the size of kink it will significantly impact the performance of your cable and increase chance of failure. Kinks always result in permanent strand damage, no matter how severe they may seem on the surface. The safety hazard of a cable with kinking is never worth the risk, so you should always replace your cable as soon as possible. 

Though cable damage may happen unexpectedly, you can set yourself up for success by employing high quality wire rope from the start. Thankfully, Strand Core domestically manufactures high quality aircraft cable and wire rope for the military and various other commercial applications. Start a quote today by going to our contact page here. Alternatively, if you have any questions our team is happy to help! Reach out to us by email at sales@strandcore.com or by phone at 800-983-9926.