High performance braided cordages for parachutes.

Combination of proper design, structure and specific property mix of the particular textile assemblies are of immense importance to the parachute designer. This is applicable to braided cordages also. These cordages in wide range of materials and constructions are being used in parachutes as rigging line, weak tie, lashing cord, stowing and whipping cords. In general, the paper covers the requirement of cordages for parachute applications, various constructions of cordages, research studies carried out on constructional variables and their effect on end properties of cordages. The paper widely covers development of various Para-aramid, Dyneema, Spectra and Vectran Cordages at ADRDE and also comparative studies of these cordages to evaluate their performance for parachute application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]