Versatile Equipment for Lifting, Rigging, & More - Meet Plasma® Slings
If you’re in the lifting and rigging industry, then you know how important it is to have durable, high-performing slings that will do the job. Not only that, safety is equally as critical when lifting or hauling heavy loads. After all, safety should be the first priority when performing lifting operations.
Enter: Cortland’s Plasma Slings & Ropes
Meet Plasma Lifting Slings and Ropes – the new, popular lifting equipment that’ll bring you safety in the 21st century. If you’re wondering why you should look into Plasma Slings, there are many benefits to these synthetic fiber rope slings. Some benefits they have over wire rope slings or even traditional steel rigging include being lighter and easier to handle (1/7th the weight of steel), requiring no maintenance meaning no lubrication is needed, and they’ll never rust.
We understand the importance of trustworthy lifting equipment, and we’re dedicated to being your source for rigging and heavy-haul equipment. With Plasma Slings now available at US Cargo Control, it’s easier than ever to get the equipment you need to tackle the toughest overhead lifting and transportation jobs.
What are Plasma Slings and Plasma Ropes?
The most common synthetic fibers are nylon, polyester, polyolefin, aramid, LCP, and plasma. Plasma consists of a fiber called Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), which is extremely durable and carries superior strength over the other common materials.
Because they’re made of fibers and not metal, they’re resistant to corrosion and can tolerate UV rays, snow, rain, and freezing or high temperatures.
By comparing many factors including strength, elongation, melt point, abrasion resistance, and cost, we find that Plasma has:
- The highest strength-to-weight ratio
- The highest abrasion resistance
- Excellent dynamic toughness in tension
- Low elongation (3%-3.5%)
- Excellent flex fatigue resistance in bending
- Excellent chemical resistance
- Density lower than 1.0
Plasma slings can be used in similar situations to wire rope as the primary lifting method for overhead lifts. Its rope fibers can be designed and constructed in many uses to provide mechanical advantages for lifts. With synthetic rope slings, you get strength and durability of wire rope slings, in addition to the weight-savings, cost savings, and load protection all in one product.
How is Plasma Safer than Wire Rope?
Plasma won’t store as much built-up energy as steel will. If a break or failure occurs, no whipping or recoil motion will occur. Workers will not be injured as a result of this.
When a steel wire rope or chain sling breaks, it’s unfortunately much more violent and could hurt your workers or damage other equipment. When a Plasma Sling breaks, the sling simply falls to the ground.
It’s much safer on the hands and easier to inspect as well. The fibers in the synthetic rope are soft – meaning you won’t have to worry about broken wires, metal burns, or corrosion.
Why Look into Plasma Slings, and Why by Cortland?
Over the last decade, plasma slings are quickly evolving and becoming more preferred to use in lifting, rigging, and winching applications. Their high strength synthetic fibers are superior to steel wire rope as they’re much more lightweight, easier to inspect and repair, will not produce broken/protruding wires, unaffected by salt and fresh water, and their wear points can be protected from abrasion, cutting, and heat damage.
When compared to other rope manufacturers, Cortland’s Plasma Slings and Ropes provide unique strength and product performance characteristics. They focus on technical specifications of larger and more challenging lifts, and provide weight, strength, and product performance that cannot be easily be compared with other manufacturers.
“Not all modern high-performance synthetic fiber ropes are designed and produced the same; raw material choice, quality, construction, and coatings vary by manufacturer,” said Easton Schlender, Technical Sales Representative of Cortland. Cortland is an innovator in the design and performance of ropes, and each of their sling “is a product of base fiber strength, design, and production methods combined to achieve peak efficiency in sling strength, while being balanced to meet service life concerns.”
They can be more expensive than wire rope or other synthetic ropes, but they will offer your business and you a longer service life and incredible safety.
Types of Plasma Slings and Ropes USCC Now Carries
At US Cargo Control, we offer Plasma 12 strand rope, Plasma 12x12 rope, and Fabricated Eye & Eye Slings. We can even customize your Plasma sling or rope to fit your exact needs through various lengths.
Plasma 12 Strand
Plasma 12 strand is the highest strength synthetic rope available. It is a braided rope constructed of 12 individual strands of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), enhanced by a recrystallization process to increase its strength.
The 12 strand has many advantages. It is torque-balanced and easily spliced by hand. Not only that, it has excellent bending flex fatigue and can easily conform to surfaces.
The sizes we are carrying are:
Plasma 12x12
Plasma 12x12 is a 12-strand braided rope where each individual strand is, in turn, a 12-stand braided rope. This design allows for long lay lengths, making the rope more flexible for bending applications and quickly being spliced using standard 12-strand splicing techniques.
Just like Plasma 12 strand, it also has the easiness to handle which is great when splicing them. The other advantages of the 12x12 construction you may not know are that it has a firmer rope than the 12x1 braided rope – allowing better internal abrasion resistance between strands and greater dimensional stability.
We offer sizes in:
Eye & Eye Slings
Eye & Eye Slings are used for many rigging applications and can be used in vertical, choker, and basket hitches. Not only can they be removed from underneath a load, but they also offer extreme versatility.
We are offering the Plasma Eye & Eye Slings in these sizes below, with lengths varying from 6’-20’.
What is Plasma Synthetic Rope Slings Used For?
Because of its versatility, strength, and flexibility, there are a number of applications Plasma Ropes and Slings can be used for. They are great to use for lifting, pulling, mooring, or winching applications. Below are what you can use Plasma Slings for:
- Surface overhead crane lifting (below the hook)
- Wind farm installation and towers
- Power Turbines
- Material movement or transfer
- Truck winches
- Heavy Lifting
- Rig Moving
- Buoy Mooring Systems
- Offshore Working & Lifting Lines
- Inland River Lines
- Ship and Barge Mooring Lines
- Mining Tow Lines
USCC is Proud to Partner with Cortland
We cherish partnerships where we can all help the industries we serve in become safer, more efficient, and able to complete their jobs without any worries. US Cargo Control is proud to be an official supplier of Cortland’s intelligent line of Plasma slings, so you can take the weight off your shoulders and safety into the palms of your hands.
We have a team of lifting and rigging equipment experts that understand Plasma Slings. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give our team a call at 866-444-9990 to get the answers you need.
