Chinese HMPE Fibers in Textile Semi-finished Parts—A Competitve Price–Performance Analysis

Abstract

High-modulus polyethylene fibers are well-known in manufacturing of composites, e.g., for armoring shells, lightweight structures, and textile-reinforced composites, and textile-based mechanical components for technical applications. Due to the appearance of several HMPE fiber types from Korea and China at the market of HMPEs, new materials are available for manufacturing textile-based composites. A challenge is that there is no independent data on the mechanical properties or on the performance of such fibers in technical applications. The University of Chemnitz in Germany has carried out investigations on the strength and the behavior of textile semifinished parts (fiber ropes) in technical applications, because especially the Chinese fibers are less expensive than well-known non-Chinese fiber brands. A final comparison of the costs of textile manufacturing of braided ropes led to a comparison of the price–performance-relation.