Experimental investigation of corrosion effect on bending fatigue of the wire ropes

Wire rope has examined for the total fatigue life prediction methodologies based on the initial condition of the wire rope. The great majority of applications, e.g. cranes, lifts, and winches have been subjected the rope to bending fatigue. There are several parameters which effects on bending fatigue lifetime such as tensile load, sheave diameter, rope composition. Apart from that, according to application area, wire ropes have often exposed to atmospheric influences, and corrosion become inevitable. In this study, in order to determine the exact lifetime of wire rope, corrosion, as a major degradation influence has been investigated experimentally. Bending fatigue tests have been performed for pre-corroded wire ropes with different level of corrosion, and the data have been compared with the reference test results. For comparison of the combine effect of corrosion with tensile loads, and corrosion with sheave diameters, two different tensile loads and sheave diameters have been tested. In this paper, it has been reported the outcome of a series of test undertaken on 6 x 36 Warrington-Seale ropes in order to determine their exact fatigue endurance under different conditions.