Designed for civilian & military market.
Weight: A: 350g (normal white fabric for consumer market)
B: 700g (normal orange consumer fabric/nylon)
C: 450g (white fabric for military class)
D: 500g (orange fluorescence fabric for military class
General Knowledge about Parachute Construction and Materials
Just as important as the canopy shape are the materials used to make the chute. This will directly impact the weight, and hence the Performance Rating. Canopy - Most of the parachute weight is in the canopy, between 50% to 80%. All modern parachutes use rip-stop nylon. There is a wide range of fabric weights, treatments, and quality. Most consumer grade nylon you can buy in a store or online weighs 1.9 oz / square yard (0.045 kg / m2). Most certified rip-stop parachute fabric is around 1.1 oz / sq yard (0.026 kg / m2). Also material can be coated or not. For parachutes this usually means a thin silicone coating to seal the fabric. The downside is it adds perhaps 10% to the weight of the material. Another treatment is to calendar the fabric, which mean to flatten the weave to lower the porosity at no increase in weight. This is also referred to as F111 fabric and is used commonly in reserve parachutes. It is preferable when parachutes need to stay packed for long periods of time (years at a time if properly done). Coated fabrics can sometimes stick together or resist opening if it stays packed for long periods. F111 fabric can be packed reliably for years at a time if kept dry. Silicone fabric can be hard to handle and pack since it is slippery.
Shroud Lines and Harnesses – The shroud lines and parachute harness make up the rest of the weight of the chute. Keeping these as light as possible will increase the performance rating. But this
needs to be done so while maintaining the strength. The parachute can open very quickly, especially when moving at higher speeds. The force applied to the load is proportional for the square of the speed at deployment. Opening shock loads as high as 15G’s or more are possible and can put a huge strain on the chute canopy and the lines. Maintaining high strength and a good design margin is desirable.
Common materials for shroud lines are nylon, polyester, Spectra or Vectran. One of the best materials to use for shroud lines is Spectra. It has the strength of Kevlar so the lines can be made smaller and much lighter, and is very slipper and resists abrasion. Spectra resists tangling as well. By using Spectra lines the parachute overall weight can be reduced as much as 35% with no decrease in parachute strength.
