SONOBUOY CABLES OF HIGH STRENGTH SPECTRA MATERIALS

THERE IS A NAVY REQUIREMENT FOR STRONGER AND LIGHTER WEIGHT ASW SONOBUOY CABLES. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THE USE OF HIGH STRENGTH POLYETHYLENE MATERIRALS SPECTRA 900 AND SPECTRA 1000 AS THE STRENGTH MEMBER OF THE CABLES IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL. THE BENCHMARK CABLE FOR THIS STUDY WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AS DESCRIBED IN THE SOLICITATION (DETAILS DESCRIBED IN REPORT NO. NADC-74221-20, "INVESTIGATION OF KELVAR FIBER CABLES FOR USE IN ASW SONOBUOYS" BY J. BRETT AND R. HOLLER, DATED JANUARY 20, 1975). THIS STUDY WILL EVALUATE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SPECTRA 900 AND 1000 FOR THEIR APPLICATION TO SONOBUOY CABLES AND MAXIMIZE THE TEXTILE YARN PROPERTIES SUCH AS TENACITY, TOTAL DENIER, FILAMENT DENIER, TWIST, ELONGATION, AND MODULUS. OUR STUDY WILL ALSO INVESTIGATE THE PROPER PROCESSING CONDITIONS SUCH AS TWISTER SPINDLE SPEED AND RING TRAVELER MATERIALS WHICH IF NOT CORRECT WILL DAMAGE YARN AND REDUCE STRENGTH. THE SECOND PART WILL PRODUCE VARIOUS BRAIDED AND SERVED CANDIDATES FROM EACH MATERIAL VARYING THE CONSTRUCTION PARAMETERS SUCH AS TYPE OF BRAID, NUMBER OF CARRIERS, YARN DENIER, DENIER PER CARRIER, BRAID ANGLE, NUMBER OF ENDS, DENIER OF ENDS AND LAY ANGLE TO SELECT THE FINAL CANDIDATES FOR CABLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION. THESE FINAL DESIGNS WILL ADDRESS THE TWO NAVAL REQUIREMENTS: 1) CABLES OF GREATER STRENGTH WITH EQUAL DIAMETER; AND 2) CALBES OF EQUALSTRENGTH WITH SMALLER DIAMETER. THE ELECTRICAL INTEGRITY OF THE CABLE WILL BE TESTED AND MAINTAINED.