Metallurgical Failure Analysis of a Steel Wire Rope Used at a Copper Smelting Facility

04.Apr.2025

​Detailed metallurgical failure analysis was carried out on a failed 25-mm steel wire rope. Chemical analysis, mechanical testing and microstructural analysis have shown the original material of the wires to comply with relevant standards and to be suitable for the present application. The main failure mode was found to be brittle intergranular fracture. This was promoted by recrystallization and grain coarsening which has also lowered mechanical strength of the rope. This microstructural modification itself is the result of wires experiencing relatively high temperatures (in excess of 300 °C) caused by inter-strand and inter-wire sliding/rubbing as well as dry sliding against sheaves, in particular the equalizer sheave. Rubbing/sliding actions have caused appreciable amounts of wear and wire breaking. The present analysis revealed the root cause of the present failure to be an inappropriate design and/or selection of the ​