Ignacio Muñoz
Papers # 2018 Las-Vegas
During the last years PVC-O has become a popular product in pipe business due to the huge improvements of mechanical properties of PVC after orientation. At the same time, CPVC has become an important choice for hot water conduits in in-house applications. Molecor has started a research program to evaluate the improvements of applying orientation on CPVC (if any), the expected raw material savings and also to evaluate the potentiality of the business of a CPVC-O pipe as a civil works product in a warm environment.
Thanks to the developments reached during the last years, PVC-O technology is ready to provide the market with the best solutions for water transportation, enlarging the product range in this material. PVC-O pipes have the same limitation regarding temperature as PVC-U pipes have. The allowable operating pressure (PFA) for temperatures of the fluid to be transported above 25 ºC shall be calculated by applying a supplementary derating factor fT to the nominal pressure (PN). By applying Molecular Orientation principles to C PVC, we want to achieve a product with all the advantages that traditional PVC-O pipes have increasing, at the same time, the resistance to high temperatures that CPVC pipes have presented till now. Molecular Orientation technology has been adapted to the product specifications and changes in its design have been implemented; work in the formula of the chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) was also required to be able to apply Molecular Orientation to this kind of pipes. The first samples of C PVCO manufactured pipes have been under test and preliminary results have been obtained. This paper is about the technological adaptation requirements due to high temperatures and about the tests results for the characterization of this new material; also about an overview of the potential of this new material in different scenarios. The companycommitment to R&D and the continuous innovation program allows us to introduce for the first time oriented chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) (C PVC-O).
