DSM Introduces New Fiber for Deepwater Mooring Ropes

The Netherlands-based DSM, producer of Dyneema®, the world’s strongest fiber™, has introduced DM20, a new fiber designed for the production of incredibly strong ropes that provide unrivalled strength, stiffness and durability. DM 20 is an innovative fiber that completely redefines the capability of HMPE ropes and forms the basis of Dyneema® Max Technology. This breakthrough technology is developed for the production of deepwater mooring ropes for oil and gas production facilities. Rigorously tested, these ropes are ideal for all rope applications requiring resistance to permanent loads.

Deepwater mooring rope specialist Lankhorst Ropes Offshore Division is the first company to use Dyneema® Max Technology. The company has developed Gama 98®, a new generation of high molecular weight polyethylene (HMPE) mooring ropes suitable for use in permanent deepwater moorings beyond 2.000 m water depth.

“Dyneema® Max Technology has excellent mechanical performance, and its floatability makes it ideal for offshore work,” says Professor Dr. Fulvio Chimisso, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Head of the POLICAB.

With a significantly smaller diameter than polyester, low creep, high fatigue resistance and weightlessness in water, mooring ropes made with the new DM20 grade from DSM Dyneema offer benefits across planning, system design, logistics, hook-up and installation stages. They guarantee maximum strength over a maximum lifetime, as well as faster handling and improved safety – leading to greater effectiveness and efficiency.

Over ten years ago, DSM and Lankhorst Ropes teamed up to develop technically advanced ropes, and some years later they decided to focus on mooring systems for use in deep water. Working together, the companies initially demonstrated the benefits of HMPE mooring ropes for deepwater Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs) with SK78. SK78 is currently the only HMPE fiber certified for use in deepwater MODU applications. More recently, DSM developed DM20, a new grade of fiber that has the strength and flexibility required for the production of rope capable of enhanced performance in permanent deepwater and ultra-deepwater moorings. Subsequently, Lankhorst translated those properties into possibly the strongest deepwater synthetic rope construction in the world: ‘Gama 98®, incorporating Dyneema® Max Technology’.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, May 11, 2012