Proposal of Application of Synthetic Ropes in Forestry

Abstract

Work offers information about synthetic ropes which represent suitable alternative to steel ropes. Our goal is to create a work that could serve as a basis for use such ropes in forestry of countries in Central Europe and mainly for the purpose of further empiric research. Synthetic ropes will be described by synthesis of information from several markedly different spheres. We also use information which we have obtained from self consultations with the manufacturer of synthetic ropes in Trenčín. In this paper, we meet the basic question about material of whose are synthetic ropes manufactured and describe its basic properties. We would like to fill the gap in the field of specialised literature which does not pay sufficient attention to this area. We focused on comparing of currently used steel ropes with synthetic ropes, and we determined their advantages and disadvantages. As the method for comparison we chose several technologies – skidder technologies and skyline logging system which are mechanisms for collecting wood. We chose mechanisms which are typical for forestry of central Europe like skidder LKT 81 T and skyline logging system Larix 3 T. Based on all information, we formulated concrete recommendations for forest usage as there are several significant differences between use and care of steel and synthetic ropes.

Keywords

• synthetic rope
• UHMWPE
• LKT 81 T
• Larix 3T