Safety & Strength

ROPE FIBER SELECTION GUIDE

WORKING CHARACTERISTICS	SISAL	MANILA	POLYESTER	POLYPROPYLENE	NYLON
Strength	Fair	Good	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent
Shock Load	Fair	Fair	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Surface Abrasion	Fair	Very Good	Excellent	Good	Very Good
Floats	No	No	No	Yes	No
RESISTANT TO
Rot & Mildew	Poor	Poor	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Sunlight	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Fair	Very Good
Oil & Gas	Fair	Fair	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Acids	Poor	Poor	Very Good	Excellent	Fair
Alkalis	Poor	Poor	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Storage Wet/Dry	Dry Only	Dry Only	Wet or Dry	Wet or Dry	Wet or Dry
Affected by Heat at...	Weakens at 300°	Weakens at 300°	Weakens at 350°	Weakens at 150°	Weakens at 350°

ROPE CONSTRUCTION SELECTION GUIDE
The natural and synthetic fibers available to the rope manufacturer come in a variety of forms: staple fiber, monofilament, multifilament, and fibrillated film and have differing characteristics depending on the material composition. The fiber characteristics are noted in the table above.

Characteristics Twisted	Solid Braid	Hollow Braid	Double Braid	Sash	3-Strand
Number of Strands or Carriers	9, 12, or 18	8, 12, or 6	16, 24	8 or 16	3
Spliceable	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Cost per Size	High	Low	Highest	Medium	Lowest
Working Load (a % of tensile)	15-20%	15-20%	15-20%	15-20%	8-14%
Abrasion Resistance	Excellent	Poor	Very Good	Good	Good
Flattens under load	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Rotates under load	No	No	No	No	Yes

The available fibers can be configured in a number of different constructions depending on the performance characteristics required. The rope characteristics by construction are summarized in the table above.