Relationship between Molecular Structure of PE Resins or Additives and Long-Term Performance of PE Pipes [PE]

Author(s) : Hirofumi Kyutoku, Kazuhisa Igawa, Hidekazu Honma, Sakiko Fukunishi, Hiroyuki Nishimura

There are mainly two grades of polyethylene pipes for hot water supply and heating. The excellent molecular structure polyethylene resins having resistance to stress crack growth are used because hot water is flowed for a long time in both polyethylene pipes. Furthermore, various additives are mixed to prevent the...

Author(s) : Takehiro Fujii, Kazuhisa Igawa, Hidekazu Honma, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura

The hydrostatic stress rupture test has been conventionally conducted as a good method of the lifetime evaluation. The hot water circulation test which is reflected to the actual operating condition is also useful method. The correlations and differences between the two tests were examined. Compared with the...

Author(s) : Yuji Higuchi, Rei Hyuga, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura

Recently, thermoplastic-based composite pipes have been developed in order to satisfy the higher requirements for gas and water distribution. Although the stress rupture test is now the major test method used to evaluate the long-term performance of these pipes, developing a new, convenient test method making it...

Author(s) : Yuichiro Goto, Hiroyuki Nishimura

The damage of PVC pipes caused by the great earthquakes was investigated in Japan by various organizations including public and private institutions. As a result of these investigations it is found that high-impact modified PVC pipes with the long insertion length have the least failures. Moreover it is also reported...

Author(s) : Takehiro Fujii, Hideo Hirabayashi, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura

It is important to stabilize the scraped surface of the polyethylene pipe, even if some operator scrape the surface of the polyethylene pipe. In Japan this automatic saddle scraper is widely used for improving workability and plumbing quality The newly developed “Automatic saddle scraper” consists of the casing unit...

Author(s) : Jun Abe, Takahiro Kasatani, Yuji Higuchi

Osaka Gas has carried out the production, supply, and sale of gas since 1905 and has distributed gas to 7,200,000 customers. The piping used for distribution was originally steel and cast iron pipes, but we have been adopting the use of polyethylene piping for low pressure distribution since 1980, and have to date...

Author(s) : Kazuhisa Igawa, Yuji Higuchi, Daisuke Tanemura, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura, Sakiko Fukunishi, Kazufumi Kohno, Hidekazu Honma, Hidekazu Sugimori

Recently, as awareness about energy-saving is increasing, high-efficiency energy systems have been developed and introduced. In addition, public and private sectors have simultaneously been implementing various efforts aiming to improve their prevalence rates. These initiatives are represented by the Cogeneration Gas...

Author(s) : Yuji Higuchi, Tomohiro Tanishita, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura

Recently, PE resin-back composite pipes have been developed in order to satisfy the higher requirements for gas and water distribution. Although the stress rupture test is now the major test method used to evaluate the long-term performance of these pipes, developing a new, convenient test method making it possible to...

Author(s) : Kazuhisa Igawa, Yuji Higuchi, Akio Kamatani, Kazushi Yamada, Hiroyuki Nishimura

The polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) cogeneration system has been commercialized in Japan. The number of commercialized PEFC residential cogeneration systems have reached 100, 000 in total at the end of last year. The waste heat can be used for hot water supply and central heating. Hot water distribution pipes...

Author(s) : Yuji Higuchi, Kazuhiro Nishimoto, Takeshi Mise, Eiji Takenaka, Markus Hartmann

This study explores the Japanese market for polyamide 12 (PA12) pipes in terms of new product market success. To gain the market penetration, there are various entry barriers for the new product in the new market field which has big distance between current marketing areas and target country. In spite of becoming...

Author(s) : Nishimura Hiroyuki

The effect of antioxidants of polyethylene of raised temperature resistance (PE-RT) pipes for a long lifetime for hot water supply and for space heating was evaluated in this paper. Some polyethylene specimens mixed with different amount of antioxidants such as hindered phenol and hindered amine were prepared by...

Author(s) : Yuji Higuchi, Masaaki Ishikawa, Toshiaki Furuno, Eiji Okamura, Masahiro Mutoh, Hiroyuki Nishimura, Asami Nakai, Hiroyuki Hamada

Pipe materials that are resistant to damage by thirty-party works were investigated with attention to materials already used for other purposes. Pipes for underwater cables, water service and agricultural use, both multiple-layer and single-layer types, were selected for the test. Protective materials were also...

Author(s) : Akiyama, Higuchi, Nose, Toyoda, Kitano, Kuriyama

Since the year 2001, the Japan Gas Association has started the development of new renewal methods capable of cost reduction for modification work by inserting a new double-layered corrugated plastic pipe into the old gas pipe to encourage the modification of aged house pipes and upgrade the level of safety. The...

Author(s) : Nishimura, Kawaguchi, Igawa

This paper describes test methods for crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) pipes to evaluate long-term performance such as the resistance to chemical degradation due to residual chlorine at high temperature by the formation of crosslinked molecular structure and the addition of suitable antioxidants. As the methods of...

Author(s) : Higuchi, Nakai, Hamada

To realize a polyethylene pipe with high strength and a high modulus of elasticity, a polyethylene based composite pipe was tentatively fabricated. To retain the plasticity of the composite pipe, polyethylene yarns were used as reinforcement. It was an interface-less composite because the reinforcement and the pipe...

Author(s) : Nishimura, Kawaguchi

The required performance of polyethylene pipes for gas distribution is firstly described. As an evaluation method for slow crack growth, the relation between crack growth length and time under test was obtained to investigate the stress crack resistance of polyethylene pipes for gas distribution after conducting...

Author(s) : Nishimura, Inoue, Inoue, Tani, Higuchi

Electrofusion (EF) joints have been widely used as easy-to-fuse and high-quality joints for joining polyethylene (PE) pipes. When we introduced EF joints 150 mm or more in diameter, an electrofusion simulation program was concurrently developed to reduce time for design and experimental works. It was verified that the...

Author(s) : Yoshida, Kitaoka, Nishimura

Because dirt ( sand, mud, etc. ) on the fusion interface causes a decrease in the strength of fusion joints, it is necessary to scrape and clean the pipe surface before fusion jointing. We have determined the degree of dirt that causes a decrease in the strength of fusion joints by experiments on peeling off at the...

Author(s) : Nishimura, Macba, Ishikawa, Ueda

In the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, dthough leak and cracking occurred mainly in joints of small-diameter steel pipes with screwed joints, no damage occurred to polyethylene pipes. To secure aseis~uicresistance of gas pipeline, polyethylene pipes are expected to come into wider use i n the future. To deternune the...

Author(s) : Kitao, Hiarse, Nishimura, Inouge, Ishikawa, Otani, Miyasa, Kato

In this paper, the behavior of rapid crack propagation in gaspressurized polyethylene pipes was analyzed using the method in which two characteristic curves, i.e., the crack velocity and the gas decompression velocity, were compared. The crack velocity of 216mm outer diameter SDR13.5 medium density polyethylene...