the void so that the surface area being abraded is thereby increased and as a consequence the mechanical load caused by the abrasion is shared over a wider surface area this can be contrasted to the situation when a solid monofilament is abraded where due to its inelastic nature and solidity the abrasion is concentrated on a relatively small and unyielding part of the monofilament which is thereby abraded and damaged much more severely than the hollow monofilament which is able to yield under the pressure of abrasion hollow monofilament from example 2 was made up into a 16 strand plaited tubular braided sleeve with 3 ends per strand at a helix angle of 30 u00b0 to the axis the resultant braid had a linear density of 3 3 g m in a similar way a solid zyex monofilament braid based on 0 28 mm z1220 was made in an identical construction the resultant braid had a linear density of 4 4 g m the resistance of these braids to abrasion was compared using the same reciprocating apparatus as described in examples 1 and 2 in some cases the absolute load in other cases the angle over the pin and in others still the pin surface were changed in addition the braid was tested both with and without being fitted closely over an electrical cable to closely simulate real conditions of use and wear both solid and hollow monofil braids were treated in exactly the same manner and loaded identically surprisingly there were no significant differences in the cycles to failure recorded for comparable cases this indicates that there is effectively a 25 advantage in terms of protection for material used delivered by the hollow.