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Steel Rope Decomposition
Lay
The lay of the strand, wire rope or cable, is the direction in which the helix of the wires orbit the core. An easy way to determine the lay is to hold the specimen vertically in front of you and observe whether the strands or wires travel up and to the right or up and to the left. Just as you might visually determine the direction of a thread on a bolt. There are other types of lay or wire rope, such as Lang and Herringbone. These types of lays in wire rope are for special purposes, so we will not go into them here.
The coating of a cable is optional, but can serve many useful purposes. The most common types of coatings are PVC Polyvinylchloride, various Nylon compounds and Teflon. These materials are referred to as compounds. These compounds are applied to the cable via the use of a plastic extrusion machine.