Polyethylene pipe material:
To understand the knowledge of Polyethylene pipe, we must first start from its materials. Polyethylene pipe is made of polyethylene as the main material, antioxidant, pigment and other auxiliary materials as auxiliary material. In the main ingredients, there are two forms of mixed ingredients and white and black.

What is the difference between mixing ingredients and "white and black"?

Mixed materials: A pellet made from the base polymer polyethylene (PE) and additives such as antioxidants, pigments, anti-ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers by extrusion processing, supplied by the mix manufacturer and graded.

White and black materials: granules made from basic polymer polyethylene (PE) and additives such as antioxidant and anti-ultraviolet (UV) stabilizer by extrusion processing, and additional color masterbatch (black/blue) is required when used.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of mixed materials?

Advantages:

1, stable carbon black/pigment dispersion and carbon black content, product consistency is strong.

2, the product performance is consistent, the production process is not subject to the instability of carbon black dispersion resulting in unstable product quality (appearance, elongation at break, etc.).

Disadvantages:

Not suitable for long-term storage: black mixed ingredients are easy to "absorb moisture", especially raw materials with a long storage time, and the internal moisture is extremely difficult to dry, so the phenomenon of black mixed ingredients welding flanging pores often appears in the market, and the production equipment requirements and process control requirements are higher.

The performance test indicators of PE pipe mix include:

Density

Melt mass flow rate (0.2-0.4g/10min)

Volatile matter (≤350mg/kg)

Carbon black content (2-2.5%)

Oxidation induction time (>20min)

History of Polyethylene pipe:

In many countries, polyethylene pipes manufactured from PE80 grade and higher are referred to as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes.

Polyethylene pipe application：

Water supply and drainage polyethylene pipe: PE pipe its good corrosion resistance and sanitation performance to ensure the safety of drinking water. At the same time, it is also suitable for the discharge of sewage and rainwater.

Mining polyethylene pipe: PE pipe has good wear resistance and impact resistance, and can withstand the erosion of water flow and the scraping of impurities such as sand and gravel, so it is suitable for use in civil construction, mining and other fields.

Gas polyethylene pipe: In the gas transmission, PE pipe also plays an important role. It has high air tightness and safety, and can effectively prevent gas leakage.

Agricultural irrigation polyethylene pipe: PE pipe also has a wide range of applications in the agricultural field. It can be used in irrigation systems to effectively save water resources and play a key role in water-saving irrigation projects and the construction of high-standard farmland for smart agriculture.

Industrial field polyethylene pipe: PE pipe is also widely used in the industrial field, such as liquid transportation pipelines in chemical, pharmaceutical and other industries. Its excellent corrosion resistance enables it to be used for conveying or discharging various acids and salts, and has long service life, low cost and low maintenance cost.

Polyethylene pipe feature:    

1. Corrosion resistance. Polyethylene is an inert material. Except for a few strong oxidants, it can resist corrosion from a variety of chemical media. It is not subject to electrochemical corrosion and does not require an anti-corrosion layer.

2. No leakage. Polyethylene pipes are mainly connected by fusion (hot-melt connection or electric fusion connection), which essentially ensures the identity of the interface material, structure and pipe body itself, and realizes the integration of the joint and the pipe. Tests have confirmed that the tensile strength and burst strength of its interface are higher than the pipe body, which can effectively resist the hoop stress and axial tensile stress generated by the internal pressure. Therefore, compared with other mechanical joints, there is no risk of leakage caused by joint distortion.

3. High toughness. Polyethylene pipe is a high-toughness pipe with a breaking elongation generally exceeding 500%, and it has a very strong adaptability to uneven settlement. It is also a pipe with excellent seismic resistance. In the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995, HDPE gas pipes and water supply pipes were the only pipeline systems that survived. Because of this, Japan vigorously promoted the use of PE gas pipes in the gas field after the earthquake.

4. Polyethylene pipes have excellent flexibility. The flexibility of polyethylene is an important property that greatly enhances the value of this material for pipeline projects. The flexibility of polyethylene allows polyethylene pipes to be coiled and supplied in longer lengths without the need for various connecting pipes. When used for non-grooving construction, the direction of the polyethylene pipe can be changed according to the requirements of the construction method; the flexibility of the polyethylene material allows it to change the shape of the pipe before construction and restore the original size and dimensions after inserting the old pipe.

5. Polyethylene pipes have good resistance to scratches. Using non-grooving construction technology, scratches are unavoidable whether it is laying new pipes or repairing or updating old pipes. Scratches cause stress concentration in the material and easily cause damage to the pipeline. The ability of the pipe to resist scratches is closely related to the slow crack growth behavior of the pipe. Studies have shown that PE80 grade polyethylene pipes have good resistance to SCG and scratch resistance. PE100 polyethylene pipe materials have even better resistance to scratches.

So,is the PE pipe invincible?

This is not the case. PE pipes also have disadvantages. They have poor ring stiffness and cannot withstand large external pressure. In applications with diameters exceeding 2000mm, they are not as good as steel pipes. At the same time, their working pressure resistance is also low, below 2.5Mpa. They are not suitable in the mining market because the pressure of mining pipelines is about 10Mpa. For mining, we recommend steel wire mesh skeleton composite polyethylene pipes or plastic-coated steel pipes.
If you need to know more about PE pipes, or want to purchase PE pipe products, please feel free to contact us.