Daniel Libert, Pierre Belloir
Papers # 2014 Chicago
PE-RT is now well established in the Hot & Cold market with various pipe designs and associated standards. For many years, PE-RT has found a good place in Under Floor Heating applications in many places around the world. The comprehensive testing performed on raw materials led to a better knowledge of high temperature performance and resistance to adverse environment such as chlorine based disinfectants. This knowledge benefits industrial applications where operating conditions are outside the ones defined for the transport of gas and drinking water. In consequence, it was decided to revise the ISO15494 standard dedicated to such applications. The revised version was circulating for final vote current 2013 and an update on its publication will be given at the conference. What can PE-RT bring to industrial applications? Most requirements of this industry will be commented in the paper ; this will include the pipe designs considered, the expected polymer processing behavior, the multiple operating conditions, the chemical resistance, the fusion compatibility, the method of extrapolation from the ISO9080 regression curves, the slow crack growth performance as well as the fatigue and rapid crack propagation resistance. A walk-through to use ISO15494 with PE-RT will be shown. Some insight will also be given on how PE-RT is being introduced for new applications such as plastic pipes and liners to be used in conventional and unconventional Oil & Gas projects. Design temperature and pressure, pipe sizes and potential applications are defined at the disposal of project managers around the globe.
PE-RT is a material that has been on the market for many years as an alternative to other polymers for Hot & Cold (H&C) piping applications, especially Under Floor Heating. Monolayer and multilayer P-type pipes as well as multilayer M-type pipes have been produced with PE-RT in accordance with relevant product standard. Its applications have been extended further with the arrival of Type II products for which new reference curves were defined and added in the last revision of the standard. The knowledge brought by the comprehensive testing performed on all these new materials led to a better knowledge of high temperature performance as well as their behavior in adverse environment such as chlorinated disinfectants. PE-RT Type II, of higher strength, naturally became a good candidate for industrial applications. The scope of such applications will be reviewed here. The Oil & Gas industry can also find new opportunities in their high demanding applications.
