Basic Types of Wire Ropes

Bright Wire.  Most ropes are made with an uncoated (bright) wire that is manufactured from high-carbon steel.  The chemistry of the steel used and the practice involved in drawing the wire are varied to supply the ultimate combination of tensile strength, fatigue resistance, and wear resistance in the finished rope.

Galvanized wire.  This is often used to improve corrosion resistance of wire ropes. We use the following two different procedures to manufacture galvanized wire:

• Galvanized to finished size wire is first drawn as a bright wire to a predetermined size that's smaller than the required finished wire size. This wire is then run through the galvanizing line, and the resultant coating of zinc increases the wire diameter to the finished size. Galvanized to finished size wire has a strength 10% lower than the same size and type of bright wire. Ropes made from this wire therefore have a minimum breaking force that's 10% lower than the equivalent size and grade of bright rope.
• Drawn galvanized wire is galvanized before the final drawing to finished size. Since the galvanized coating also goes through the drawing process, it is much thinner than the coating on galvanized to finished size wire. Drawn galvanized wires are equal in strength to the same size and type of bright wire and drawn galvanized rope is equal in strength to the same size and grade of bright rope.

Stainless steel wire. This is a special alloy containing approximately 18% chromium and 8% nickel. It has high resistance to many corrosive conditions and is used extensively in yachting ropes and control cables.