UV and ZP Canopy Fabric

[Jimbo 0]

The following quote is from another thread in the Safety and Training fourm next door. The author is Bill Von.

Quote

UV damage comes in a very distant third, although it is a significant factor with canopy fabric.

What exactly does UV do to a modern ZP canopy? Does the fabric actually become porous? Does it keep it's ZP qualities but become weaker? At what point is the degradation noticable? At what point does it become a problem?
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Jim

[PhreeZone 20]

UV degrades the strength of Nylon by destroying the actual fibers of the fabric. Ripping UV damaged nylon is increadibly easy. To test damage on the canopy, have a rigger do a few pull tests on the canopy in different areas. If it Rips, then I'd look wether its worth keeping the canopy.
I'm not sure what to put here right now.....

[AggieDave 6]

The "Thumb Test", right? Where you try to put your thumb through the canopy...I saw a rigger put his thumb through a canopy like it was a wet tissue once...kind of scary to think someone might have jumped that.
AggieDave '02
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Blue Skies and Gig'em Ags!
BTHO t.u.

[Geoff 0]

I saw a canopy (a lost-then-found cutaway main) that had been left outside in the Florida sun for several months. Parts of it had become brittle - kinda like charred paper, so you could just push your finger through it.
Geoff

[Kirils 1]

Wasn't there a company out there with a process to "renew"
the anti -UV coating on an older canopy and reduce porosity?
Skydiving is not a static excercise with discrete predictability...

[PhreeZone 20]

Yes, there is a company that will "Redip" your canopy to reduse its porsity, but from all accounts after 200 jumps the coating is gone and needs redone.
Might be worth looking at for that demo canopy that only gets used 20 or so times a year but for anything else thats only a year of jumping and its done.
I'm not sure what to put here right now.....