Abstract: The fracture failure of the crane wire rope was analyzed by the methods of macroscopic examination, chemical composition analysis, mechanical property test, fracture analysis, metallographic examination and so on. The results show that the fracture of the wire rope was ductile. The wire rope sustained a serious extrusion and friction during use, leading to the wire damage and transformation hardening by the produced high temperature. The damage and transformation hardening caused the decrease of cross sectional area and reduced the bearing power of the wire, resulting in the wire broken and the wire rope overload fracture.