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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

tubular nylon webbing, effect of wet and cold environments, anchoring solution

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Tubular nylon webbing is an effective and relatively inexpensive anchoring solution for search and rescue groups, fire departments, canyoners, and rock climbers. As an anchoring solution nylon webbing is vital to the safety of anyone who uses it. Serious injury or death will often occur if an anchor fails.

All commercially available webbing is labeled with a breaking strength so that the end user is aware of its limits. This breaking strength value is obtained by the manufacture after running many tensile pull tests of dry webbing. While the dry breaking strength is reported by the manufacture no information, other than statements such as “tensile strength … will be reduced when wet” and “if the webbing becomes frozen it also loses strength,” is given about when wet or frozen webbing will fail1. Due to the often wet and harsh environments in which tubular nylon webbing is used, it is vital for search and rescue groups, firefighters, and climbers to understand how moisture and temperature affect the strength of their webbing. This is what we set out to test.

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