jacket problems in finding adequate terminations for lines 10 were not resolved in time for this report so they were not tested under tension due to the variety of line constructions and the characteristics of test methods there is no obvious winner in all categories to aid in interpreting the data tables have been prepared for each test used table iii illustrates data obtained with the durometer and it is evident that by this test none of the lines submitted was equal to either of the armored reference lines i e acetal copolymer ac or nylon n when tested without tension the best of the test lines were 1 armored with 47 mils of ionomer 6 armored with 76 mils of ionomer and 10 armored with 114 mils of polyester the rest were below a level which would seem to warrant further consideration however some mention should be given to the samples armored with braids they are 7 armored with polyolefin and aluminum braid 8 armored with kevlar braid and 9 armored with polyurethane and a metal braid all three ranked low in the durometer test probably because the conical point of the durometer slipped between the strands of the braids 8 which ranked last in this test was first in cut resistance hence it appears that the durometer test may be a useful measure of toughness for homogeneous plastic armors but is not the whole story when used on items with a discontinuous cover in all cases where lines were tested slack and again when stressed the durometer readings were either the same within.