The end user will expect the rope/wire rope to provide reasonable service life with safety surround. But, we are daily facing incidents at which the wire rope/rope are discarded and sometimes failed after a short service time.

By means of the personal experience of Dr. Ashkenazi as a crane inspector M.R.E. provides failure analysis and machine inspection and survey in order to identify the causes for fast degradation of wire ropes, failures of ropes and wire ropes, identify critical interfaces between rope and machine components.

This service will provide the end user useful information and recommendations in order to improve safety and increase the service life of the rope and achieve an optimal compatibility between the rope and the machine.

In the following the influential parameters to be studied are listed. M.R.E is focusing on these when facing a failure analysis.

The quality of the rope will directly affect the rope performance. Rope quality includes the following parameters:

- Wire/fibers quality (yarns twisting and roving, metallurgical construction, surface quality, heat treatment etc)

- Production process at the wire, strand, and rope level. These include twisting, cold drawing, and stranding, compacting and closing processes.

- Size control at the core, strand and rope level. This includes diameter control and its changing due to loads and cycling.

- Wire rope lubrication. The lubrication of the rope at the wire and strand level will strongly affect rope service life. Moreover, at specific applications the initial lubrication has a major rule with respect to the potential service life.

- Compatibility of the rope cross section with the hoisting application.

• Machine parameters

The machine performance and design will have a considerable impact on the rope service life and even on the safety surround. Parameters and properties which may cause fast deterioration are:

- Loading and hoisting control  The control of acceleration, starting/braking are critical with regard to the dynamic loads which are generated at the rope. Bad control will generate high level of dynamic loads, small but critical slipping of the rope at the sheave groove, lateral and axial vibrations. These will cause the initiation of fatigue cracks and will reduce the service life. Moreover, a good rope which is installed in a bad controlled machine may cause sever damage to the drums, sheaves and other components in the crane.