World Leading Centre of Excellence ROPE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT & TESTING

World Leading Centre of Excellence ROPE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT & TESTING

STEEL WIRE & SYNTHETIC FIBRE ROPE TECHNOLOGY Unique Testing Capabilities Knowledge Innovation Analysis Verification Assurance

The Bridon Technology Centre (BTC) is a world leading centre of excellence for rope technology development, testing & verification. The Bridon Technology Centre (BTC) harnesses the wealth of knowledge Bridon has acquired serving global industries for more than a century and combines this with significant investments in personnel, unique test equipment and forensic laboratories. A clear demonstration of Bridon s commitment to our customers, the BTC dramatically increases the capability of our organisation to fast-track development of innovative new rope technologies to meet the ever increasing demands of the markets we serve. The BTC will accelerate the development of rope technology that will increase the safety, performance and operational life of ropes working in demanding and hostile environments typical to our core markets in the Oil & Gas, Mining, Construction and Fishing sectors. In addition to delivering the next generation of rope technologies the Bridon Technology Centre also provides an extensive range of unique facilities for the testing, analysis and verification of new and used ropes. The Bridon Technology Centre expands our ability to support joint ventures with leading organisations to provide the products and services that will enable the potentially possible to become economically attractive.

STATE OF THE ART FACILITIES The Bridon Technology Centre s unique range of purpose built test equipment, forensic laboratories and benchmarked processes enable our dedicated rope engineers and material scientists to accurately capture and quantify operational rope data that has previously not been possible. Expert analysis of these new data streams allows Bridon and our customer s to gain deeper insight into rope characteristics and performance. Using this knowledge we can better focus development of new products and rope technologies that will deliver higher performance, increased safety and exceptional reliability in practise as well as in theory. The BTC s comprehensive testing facilities for wire, strand and rope manufactured from steel and synthetics includes: Wire rope Breaking Force Testing Unique Multi-Layer Spooling (MLS) testing capability High capacity Bend Fatigue Testing and Analysis Rope Torque-Turn Testing Rope / Termination / Polymer / Metallurgical expertise Microscopic analysis using latest 3D technology

ROPE INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS LABORATORIES The Bridon Technology Centre (BTC) provides access to one of the most comprehensive laboratory test facilities for steel wire and fibre rope and their components, in the world. Continued investment in infrastructure, the latest equipment and on-going development of personnel ensures that our customers and partners receive technical support of the highest standard. Fibre rope Breaking Force Testing Wire Tensile Testing with Optical Extensometer The range of testing, verification & analysis services available from the BTC includes; Post Retirement Rope Analysis Rope Condition Assesment Forensic Investigation New Product Development Testing Supply Chain Integrity Management MULTI-LAYER SPOOLING (MLS) TEST Multi-layer spool winch designs allow industrial winch and crane OEM S to utilise smaller and more economic winch spools. These types of winch arrangements are attractive as they reduce space requirements and therefore cost, however, MLS can cause accelerated rope deterioration due to damage caused by a rope crossing over its self during spooling at high speed or through crush damage. Bridon s MLS Test Machine allows ropes to be repeatedly tested and cross over & crush resistance measured. Testing of 32mm diameter ropes with maximum loads of 32 tonnes will be used to establish an accurate source of data for use in optimising and developing high performance ropes for multi-layer spooling applications. Extensive Rope Fatigue Testing Capability

UNIQUE TESTING CAPABILITIES WIRE AND FIBRE ROPE BREAKING FORCE TESTING AND WIRE TENSILE TESTING The quality, integrity and ability of a rope to carry loads safely is a function of the tensile strength of the wire combined with the design and quality of manufacturing employed to produce a wire strand and subsequent rope. To expand our understanding and ability to test and verify new and existing rope designs Bridon have invested in tensile testing equipment for wire and breaking force test equipment for wire and fibre ropes. ROPE BEND FATIGUE TESTING For many applications the life expectancy and performance of the rope is determined its ability to endure the fatigue associated with repeated bending over sheaves used in lifting, lowering and conveying equipment. Our purpose made Bend Fatigue Machines can replicate these dynamic operating conditions including reverse bending to provide accurate measurement of the deterioration of rope performance. Test range : 20 to 100mm rope diameter Maximum load : 160 tonnes Equipment portfolio includes; Wire Tensile Test Machine with Extensometry BL1 - Fibre rope Breaking Force Test Machine 125 tonne BL2 - Wire rope Breaking Force Test Machine 200 tonne ROPE TORQUE-TURN TESTING Different rope constructions exhibit varying degrees of torque and rotation characteristics under load dependent on rope material and design. To better quantify, understand and then eliminate this phenomenon, Bridon have increased Rope Torsion Testing capability with the addition of a unique 1,500kN Torsion Test Machine. METALLURGY & MICRO ANALYSIS The BTC utilises the latest 3D Microscope technology to provide comprehensive examination of rope component surfaces and high resolution optical microscopy to enable investigation of rope materials right down to their microscopic structure. Equipment includes; 3D Microscope Stereo Microscope Optical Microscope

TESTING INVESTIGATION VERIFICATION ANALYSIS Bridon Technology Centre services include; New Product Development Testing Condition Assessment Forensic Investigation Supply Chain Integrity Management Post Retirement Rope Analysis

Bridon International Technical Centre Carr Hill Doncaster DN4 8DG Phone: +44 (0)1302 382 283 btc@bridon.com www.bridon.com 04/2013 Edition 2. All rights reserved. Copyright Bridon 2013 DISCLAIMER Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy in the content of this document it is for guidance only and may be changed at any time. The information contained in this document does not form part of any contract.