McGoldrick, Baeckmann, Walton, Nestelberger
Developments in New Materials # 2006 Washington DC
Polyethylene has been in use for the manufacture of piping systems since the sixties and has progressed in its property spectrum not only in terms of resistance to pressure, but also both in terms of resistance to Rapid Crack Propagation and to Slow Crack Growth. In terms of processing friendliness however, further progress has been achieved only in recent years in the form of PE100 materials which exhibit “Low Sag” properties thus allowing the manufacture of very large thickwalled pipes having very constant wall thickness around the whole circumference of the pipe. This paper describes a ground-breaking material technology which facilitates easy manufacture of injection moulded PE100 fittings whilst still fulfilling all the requirements of international standards and outlines also the benefits which this technology can bring to a manufacturer of pipe fittings.
