Consecutive Impact Loading and Preloading Effect on Stiffness of Woven Synthetic-Fiber Rope

Abstract

We studied consecutive impact loading on woven high-modulus polyethylene rope, which is used in robotics fields. An impact tester was developed to conduct the experiments. Five consecutive impact loads (five drops) were applied to the rope and the stiffness of the loading part that corresponds to each drop was evaluated. The stiffness of the woven ropes was affected strongly by consecutive impact loading. The change in stiffness is undesirable in some applications such as in robotic fields. Therefore, we have proposed a method that can optimize changes in stiffness by applying a preload before impact testing (preload treatment). The experimental results show that preload is an efficient way to reduce changing rope stiffness. We have also proposed an empirical equation that can estimate the rope stiffness after arbitrary preload treatment, and this equation is a function of the number of drops and the static preload level. The equation can be used to determine the preload treatment conditions to stabilize the stiffness of the woven ropes before they are used in engineering fields.