API SPEC 9A, August 2020 – Specification for Wire Rope

API 9A specifies the minimum requirements and terms of acceptance for the manufacture and testing of steel wire ropes for the petroleum and natural gas industries. The following products are covered by this specification:

— bright- or drawn-galvanized wire rope,

— well-measuring wire, and

— well-measuring strand.

Typical applications include tubing lines, rod hanger lines, sand lines, cable-tool drilling and clean out lines, cable tool casing lines, rotary drilling lines, winch lines, horse head pumping unit lines, torpedo lines, mast-raising lines, guideline tensioner lines, riser tensioner lines, and mooring and anchor lines. Wire ropes for lifting slings and cranes, and wire for well-measuring and strand for well-servicing, are also included.

The minimum breaking forces for the more common sizes, grades, and constructions of stranded wire rope not exceeding 2160 grade and well measuring wire are given in tables. However, this standard does not restrict itself to the classes covered by those tables. Other types, such as wire ropes with compacted strands and compacted (swaged) wire ropes, may also conform with its requirements. The minimum breaking force values for these wire ropes and wire are provided by the manufacturer.

For information only, other tables present the minimum breaking forces for large diameter wire ropes and spiral ropes (i.e. spiral strand and locked coil), while approximate nominal length masses for the more common wire rope constructions and large diameter stranded and spiral ropes are also given.