Latest Trends and Developments of PP for Piping Applications [PE]

Polypropylene (PP) has a long and successful tradition as a material for piping applications. Polypropylene can be modified in many ways to tailor it for the needs of specific applications and markets. Typical examples are sanitary pressure piping systems made from PP random co-polymers (PP-R) for domestic hot and cold water supply, PP homopolymers (PP-H) for industrial pressure piping systems and soil and waste piping systems for domestic waste disposal. Furthermore, PP block copolymers (PP-B) offer the highest impact strength of all three types making them especially suitable for buried sewage piping systems even when installed at low temperatures. Recently, a new family of PP-B with high stiffness and high impact strength has found a successful entry into the marketplace. Another development is the use of tailored PP for coatings of steel pipes to be used for offshore oil-transportation.1 PP also offers a wide range of modification possibilities available both to the raw material producer and the pipe converter.