Monofilament Summary
How to use the below data.
Well it all depends on what your looking for.
Looking for the line with the highest breaking strain to diameter ratio? Look at the “Tensile Strength (PSI)” column or sort by “Tensile Rank”. This is a number that is calculated based on the cross sectional area of the line and its average max breaking strain. Or check out the chart HERE
Best Abrasion resistance? Check out the Abrasion Tensile Rank which is calculated similar to the above but uses the breaking strain when in contact with an abrasive surface.
Maybe your interested in the diameter of a specific line to see how much you can fit on your reel? For that, check out the “Measured Diameter” column.
Some interesting facts.
Compared to Braid, the Monofilament lines have their claimed diameter very close to their measured diameter.
Similarly, almost every line breaks at a strain higher than the stated breaking strain. The column “Claimed vs Actual Breaking Strain” shows this pretty clearly, if the value is greater than 100% then the manufactuer under-rated the line. This is plotted on the chart HERE
For braid, the abrasion resistance averages around 35% (column “Ave abrasion break of all braids (%)”) of it’s maximum breaking strain, where as the monofilament lines (Mono, Flourocarbon etc) average around 60%, showing that the monofilament type lines are almost twice as resistant to breaking under abrasive conditions.
Braid vs Monofilament Stretch
Another interesting comparison is how much monofilament lines stretch compare to braid. Take the graph below. Both lines break at a very similar peak force (25lbs) yet the braid broke after 7.5 seconds of testing, compared to the monofilament broke after 27.2 seconds of testing time.
The machine used to stretch the lines moves at a steady 5.7 mm/second, so we can see that the monofilament line was able to take (approximately) 3.6x the amount of stretch before failing.
Breaking Strain comparison graph
A line chart showing the the time taken and maximum tension acheived for each Monofilament line tested.
Max Breaking Strain vs Abrasion Breaking Strain
A chart showing the max breaking strain (outer bar) and abrasion breaking strain (inner bar) of each Monofilament tested.
Tensile Strength
Tensile Strength is defined as "the resistance of a material to breaking under tension" and is calculated by combining the diameter of the line and the force required to break it. This means that no matter what diameter the line is or what tension it breaks at, you can compare 2 completely different lines to see which one has a stronger construction.
The graph below shows all of the lines that have been tested and have had their Tensile Strength calculated. The higher the number the better. The outer bar is the maximum tensile strength, the inner bar is the tensile strength for the abrasion tests.
Rated vs Tested Breaking Strength
The plot below shows all of the lines that have been tested and compares their Rated Breaking Strain against their Actual Tested Breaking Strain.
If the line broke at exactly its rated strength it would land on the red line called "Ideal". The line "Average" shows the average of all the lines tested and how they rate against their tested strength.