Petry, Gressmann, Pylarski
Joints & Joining # 2001 Munich
Electrofusion is undoubtedly the most important method for jointing polyethylene piping systems in gas and water distribution. Today it is not unusual to joint PE 100 pipes and fittings in diameters up to 500 mm using electrofusion couplers whereas only five years ago the maximum size used was 315 mm. With these large diameter couplers it is particularly important to have a good understanding of the gap closing process during electrofusion in order to provide the optimum conditions for site fusion. Furthermore the designer has to test the fittings under the worse case conditions, which means at ambient temperatures of – 10°C, maximum gap and minimum energy input according to the fitting and pipe tolerances.
