It is available in many sizes and colours. Paracord is a useful and fun rope to have around. It you take a batch of rope, split it in 2 section and test one section while not do anything to the other section, the tested line will have to sell for more. This is not to say that some commercial rope is not well tested and as strong or good as true military grade rope. Polyester is not so stretchy and wetting it makes no difference.Īs expected higher standards of testing and quality control make a rope more expensive. Nylon is much stretchier and even more so when wet. Are the core ropes tightly wound, even, smooth and not fuzzy? Similarly is the sheath even, well braided and smooth without pulled hairs, knots or uneven strands? One of the ways of telling polyester from nylon is by checking the stretch. You can somewhat judge the quality of a rope by taking it apart and looking at the core. I'm not sure it matters much for most applications. Many companies claim to sell mil 550 paracord but in fact do not. Not all paracord is US certified and many companies make good usable cord which do not comply with US certification. Safety factors of 5 to 10 times are not unusual. For this reason a safety factor is used when the rope is used in critical conditions. Some knots make a rope less than half as strong. Once in use knots and fasteners reduce the usable strength. Minimum breaking strength is an ideal strength measured in the lab. Military grade paracord will also have one of the inner cords colour coded in order to identify the manufacturer.
550 paracord is made of 7 to 9, 3 ply twisted inner cords and an outer sheath and 32 or 36 strands in the sheath. Material is specified as nylon and stringent quality control and testing must be used if the rope is to be certified for U.S. This is because it is rated with a minimum breaking strength of 550 pounds. The IA and IIA do not have cores, only the sheath, The type III, which is the best known paracord, is often called 550 cord. It comes in 6 types: I, IA, II, IIA, III, and IV.
Para cord used in the military is strictly controlled by The US military MIL-C-5040H. The inner core is made from twisted 2 or more ply nylon yarn. This makes the rope smooth and easy to handle. The outer layer is a braided sheath composed of many layers.
It is constructed of an outer braided layer and an inner core. Originally, parachute cord was made of nylon. After World War II the cords made their way to surplus stores where they were found to be very useful for many military and non military uses. Paracord or more accurately Parachute Cord started life as a light rope originally used in the suspension lines of parachutes. Paracord, what is it, Suppliers and Projects.