Military ropes

U.S. market is about 20 million pounds per year. The applications are those where one needs very high flame resistance (clothing for firefighters and welders, welder s protective shield, upholstery and drapes), heat resistance (ironing board covers, insulation film for electrical motors and transformers, aerospace and military), dimensional stability (fire hose, V- and conveyor belts), or strength and modulus (circuit boards, bulletproof vests, fiber optic and power lines, ship mooring ropes, automobile tire cord, puncture-resistant bicycle tires). 

Hemp was grown in Colonial and Revolutionary America. Indeed, farmers were sometimes required to grow hemp because it was used to make ropes for the sailing ships that were the lifeblood of international commerce and military power. 

Otter (or Paravane). A protective underwater device which, when towed with a wire rope from a fitting on tlie bow of a ship, rides out from the ship s side and cuts the cables of anchored mines. The mines then rise to the surface, where they can be seen and destroyed Ref J. Quick, Dictionary of Weapons and Military Terms , McGraw-Hill, NY (1973), 340... 

Textile finishers apply microbicides mainly for the protection of commercial carpeting and military textiles. Smaller quantities of microbicides are used for health-care textiles and domestic fabrics. Microbicides are also used for the protection of yarns, cordage and rope, e.g. prepared from sisal. 

High modulus fibers and films are produced from extended chain crystals in both conventional polymers, notably PE, and in liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs). The topic of high modulus organic fibers has been described and reviewed [15-17, 25] providing information on their preparation, structure, and properties. High modulus fibers are found in applications such as fiber reinforced composites for aerospace, military, and sporting applications. Industrial uses are for belts, ropes, and tire cords. Extended chain crystals can also form when polymers are crystallized very slowly near the melting temperature, but they are weak and brittle. 

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