Spiderwire (and all gelspun polyethylene threads) are
spun from ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
which is ultradrawn (stretched a lot at an elevated
temperature which increase the crystallinity of the
material). It turns out much of the ultra high
molecular weight polyethylene used to make this stuff
in the US is made in Lake Charles by Basell (formerly
Montell, formerly Himont, formerly Hercules and
currently being sold, so it'll be another name soon).
Buy lots of this stuff...it's good for our economy
here(LOL)...
Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene stuff is
interesting. If it isn't used to make gel spun
materials, blocks of this stuff are machined (no other
real way to form it, the high molecular wieght
interferes with more traditional forming methods for
lower molecular weight polyethylene) to make such
things as the equivalent of slippery cartilege for
some experimental prosthetic joints (knee and other
replacement joints)
As far as molecular weights for this stuff is
concerned, it is about 3.5 to 5 million grams per
mole. That's a lot of CH2 s in a row...
Mark Delaney
--- Jim Collins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thanks, Henk.
>
> So thats why spiderwire is such a strong fishing
> line. I never bothered to
> look into the chemistry of it. What you say about
> its uses definitely
> dovetails with the article.
>
> Guess Ill have to buy some to try with my bass
> deer-hair flies.
>
>
> Jim Collins
> ------------
> Fishing is not a matter of life or death.
> It's much more important than that!
>
>
>
>
>
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