PB, PE, PVC, PERT, PPR pipes: No more confusion!
Published Time:
2021-11-09
PB pipe (polybutylene) is a high-molecular inert polymer, known as “the gold of plastics.”
PB Pipe
PB pipe (polybutylene) is a high-molecular inert polymer, known as the "gold of plastics". PB resin is a high-molecular complex synthesized from butene-1. It has high temperature resistance, durability, chemical stability and plasticity. It is tasteless, non-toxic, odorless, with a temperature range of -30℃ to 100℃. It is cold-resistant, heat-resistant, pressure-resistant, rust-proof, corrosion-resistant, scale-free, long-lasting (up to 50-100 years), and has long-term aging resistance. It is one of the world's leading chemical materials and is widely used in many countries around the world.
Characteristics of PB Pipes
1. Good durability and non-toxic: As a high-density polymer with a stable molecular structure, its service life can reach 50-100 years, and it is non-toxic and harmless, without chemical reactions.
2. UV resistant and corrosion resistant: PB pipes resist UV radiation and microbial invasion, and can keep the stored water from deteriorating for a long time.
3. Lightweight and flexible: PB pipes weigh 1/20 of galvanized steel pipes, are easy to handle, and are soft in material, with a small bending radius of 6D (D: outer diameter of the pipe).
4. Good freeze resistance and heat resistance: At -20℃, it has good low-temperature impact resistance, and the pipe will not freeze and crack. After thawing, the pipe can recover to its original shape and can withstand high temperatures below 100℃.
5. Good thermal expansion and advanced connection method: The thermal expansion of PB pipes is about 1/60 of that of metal pipes, and the expansion coefficient is similar to that of concrete. The connection method is one-piece hot-melt connection, so during burial, it can avoid pipe movement and leakage at the joints caused by temperature changes and water hammer phenomena.
6. Energy saving: When PB pipes are used for low-temperature radiant floor heating, energy can be saved by 30%.
7. Easy to repair and modify: When PB pipes are buried, they do not bond with concrete.
8. Smooth pipe wall, no scaling: Compared with galvanized pipes, the water flow can be increased by 30%.
Application Areas
1. Water supply (sanitary pipes) and hot water pipes: In terms of tap water and hot water pipes, PB pipes are recognized as non-toxic, tasteless, and durable pipe materials.
2. Heating pipes: Due to their good insulation, construction, and permanent durability, they are suitable for connecting buildings and underfloor heating pipe systems.
3. Air conditioning and industrial pipes: Due to their strong corrosion resistance (acid, alkali, and salt resistance), non-toxicity, and odorlessness, they are ideal pipe materials for chemical engineering, food processing engineering, comprehensive hospitals, industrial water supply, etc. Due to their high pressure strength, they are suitable for use in air conditioning pipe systems.
4. Agricultural and horticultural pipes: Due to their strong corrosion resistance, flexibility, and UV resistance, they are used for irrigation, golf course sprinklers, farm underground heating, and pesticide piping.
5. Snow removal pipes: With a permanent lifespan and strong impact resistance, they are especially suitable for snow removal pipes for roads, parking lots, and playgrounds. They are impact-resistant pipe materials.
6. Hot spring pipes: With outstanding heat and pressure resistance, they do not produce rust or scale, making them unparalleled for hot spring pipes.
7. Fire sprinkler system pipes: They have passed the US UL standard and obtained FM approval among non-metallic pipe materials, and are widely used as automatic sprinkler system pipes in developed countries.
PE Pipe
PE polyethylene is a polyethylene plastic, a series of resin varieties produced by various processing methods, with various structures, properties, and uses.
PE pipes include medium-density polyethylene pipes and high-density polyethylene pipes, which are divided into SDR11 and SDR17.6 series according to wall thickness.
The former is suitable for transporting gaseous artificial gas, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, while the latter is mainly used for transporting natural gas. Compared with steel pipes, the construction process is simple, it has a certain flexibility, and more importantly, it does not need anti-corrosion treatment, saving a lot of processes.
The disadvantage is that its mechanical properties are not as good as steel pipes. During construction, special attention should be paid to the safety distance of thermal heating, and it cannot be exposed to sunlight in the air, and it is sensitive to chemicals, preventing damage caused by leakage of sewage pipes.
Characteristics of PE Pipes
1. Environmentally friendly and hygienic: It does not scale or breed bacteria, solving the problem of secondary pollution of drinking water.
2. Good flexibility: Good flexibility, high impact strength, high elongation at break, strong adaptability to uneven settlement of the pipe base, and excellent seismic performance.
3. Simple construction: Simple construction process, low system cost, low maintenance cost, greatly reducing engineering costs.
4. Long service life: Under normal conditions, the service life is up to 50 years.
5. Convenient transportation: Lightweight, convenient transportation and installation.
6. Good flow rate: Excellent wear resistance, low pipe wall friction coefficient, and improved medium throughput.
7. Strong corrosion resistance: Inert material, resistant to corrosion by various chemical media, no electrochemical corrosion.
8. Reliable joints: Hot-melt butt joint and hot-melt socket joint technologies make the joint strength higher than the pipe body, ensuring joint safety and reliability.
Application Areas
1. Urban tap water pipe network system
2. Natural gas and fuel gas transmission system
3. Industrial chemical fluid input and discharge
4. Seawater desalination pipe network
5. Garden greening water supply pipe network
6. Geothermal heat pump system
7. Siphon and same-floor drainage system
8. Trenchless engineering
9. Food and industrial raw material transportation system
Transportation systems in the chemical and petroleum industries
PVC pipes
U-PVC, also known as hard PVC, is an amorphous thermoplastic resin made by the polymerization of vinyl chloride monomers and adding certain additives (such as stabilizers, lubricants, fillers, etc.). In addition to additives, it also uses a method of blending with other resins to give it significant practical value. These resins include CPVC, PE, ABS, EVA, MBS, etc.
UPVC has high melt viscosity and poor fluidity. Even if the injection pressure and melt temperature are increased, the change in fluidity is not large. In addition, the molding temperature of the resin is very close to the thermal decomposition temperature, and the temperature range that can be molded is very narrow, making it a difficult material to mold.
Characteristics of PVC-U pipes
1. Lightweight and easy to handle and transport: PVC pipes are lightweight, making them easy to handle, transport, and install, saving labor.
2. Excellent chemical resistance: PVC pipes have excellent acid, alkali, and corrosion resistance, making them very suitable for the chemical industry.
3. Low resistance: PVC pipes have a smooth inner wall and low resistance, with a friction coefficient of only 0.009.
4. Excellent electrical insulation: PVC pipes have excellent electrical insulation properties and are suitable for protecting wires and cables.
5. Easy installation: PVC pipes and fittings can be quickly and easily assembled, resulting in low installation costs.
6. Does not affect water quality: Dissolution tests have confirmed that PVC pipes do not affect water quality, making them an ideal material for current water supply piping.
7. High mechanical strength: PVC pipes have very high water pressure resistance, external pressure resistance, and impact resistance, making them suitable for piping projects under various conditions.
Characteristics of PVC drainage pipes
1. The pipe has excellent surface hardness and tensile strength, resulting in a high safety factor.
2. The pipe has a low coefficient of linear expansion (0.07 mm/℃), resulting in minimal deformation due to temperature changes. It has a low thermal conductivity and elastic modulus, and its frost resistance is superior to that of cast iron drainage pipes.
3. Pipe and fittings can be connected using adhesive, making installation simple, convenient, and efficient.
4. Excellent aging resistance, with a normal service life of over 50 years.
5. The pipe has excellent corrosion resistance to inorganic acids, alkalis, and salts, making it suitable for industrial wastewater discharge and transportation.
6. The pipe has a low friction coefficient, ensuring smooth water flow, preventing blockages, and reducing maintenance requirements.
7. The material has a high oxygen index and is self-extinguishing.
PE-RT underfloor heating pipes
PE-RT, or heat-resistant polyethylene, is a non-crosslinked polyethylene that can be used for hot water pipes. It is a medium-density polyethylene produced using a special molecular design and synthesis process. It uses a method of copolymerizing ethylene and octene to control the number and distribution of side chains to obtain a unique molecular structure that improves the heat resistance of PE.
PE-RT pipes have a creep rupture curve that meets product standards, making them a type of polyethylene that can be used for hot water pipes without crosslinking.
In addition, PE-RT has excellent low-temperature performance, so it can be installed even in low winter temperatures. Bending the pipes does not require preheating, which can solve the economic losses caused by low winter temperatures in northern China that prevent construction.
Characteristics of PE-RT underfloor heating pipes
1. Lightweight, easy to transport, install, and construct.
2. Good flexibility, making it convenient and economical to lay. The pipes produced can be coiled and bent during construction to reduce the number of fittings used and lower construction costs.
3. When the pipe is bent, the stress in the bent part can quickly relax, and there will be no "rebound" phenomenon, making it easy to operate.
4. Low internal friction loss. The fluid transport capacity of this type of pipe is 30% greater than that of metal pipes of the same diameter.
5. Low brittle temperature. The pipe has excellent low-temperature performance, so it can be installed even in low winter temperatures, and the pipe does not need to be preheated when bending.
6. Good chemical corrosion resistance, no rust, and long service life.
7. Good environmental adaptability.
8. Under working conditions of 70℃ and 0.4MPA, it can be safely used for more than 50 years.
9. No toxic additives are added during the production of the pipe. The inner wall is smooth, does not scale, and does not breed bacteria, making it safe for use in drinking water transportation and other fields.
10. Impact resistance is 5 times that of PVC-U pipes.
11. Good heat and pressure resistance.
12. Green and environmentally friendly product, recyclable.
Application Areas
1. Hot water and heating applications in apartments, residential buildings, hotels, schools, stadiums, commercial areas, hospitals, solar homes, bathhouses, and indoor swimming pools.
2. High-speed extrusion equipment for PE-RT heat-resistant polyethylene pipes
3. The high-speed extrusion equipment for PE-RT heat-resistant polyethylene pipes is the first set of equipment in China specifically designed for the production of PE-RT pipes, developed by our company.
4. PE-RT pipes can be used for hot water pipes, underfloor heating pipes, and solar water heater pipes.
PPR pipes
PP-R pipes, also known as Type III polypropylene pipes, are made by extruding atactic polypropylene into pipes and injection molding into fittings. They are a new type of plastic pipe product developed and applied in Europe in the early 1990s.
PP-R, a new generation of pipe material, was developed in the late 1980s using gas-phase copolymerization technology to randomly and uniformly incorporate approximately 5% PE into the PP molecular chain (random copolymerization). It exhibits good impact resistance and long-term creep resistance.
Characteristics of PPR Pipes
In addition to the general characteristics of plastic pipes such as light weight, corrosion resistance, non-scaling, and long service life, PP-R pipes also have the following main characteristics.
1. Non-toxic and hygienic. The PP-R raw material molecules only contain carbon and hydrogen elements, without any harmful or toxic elements. It is hygienic and reliable, suitable not only for cold and hot water pipes but also for pure drinking water systems.
2. Heat preservation and energy saving. The thermal conductivity of PP-R pipes is 0.21 w/mk, only 1/200 of that of steel pipes.
3. Good heat resistance. The Vicat softening point of PP-R pipes is 131.5℃, and the high working temperature can reach 95℃, meeting the requirements of building water supply and drainage standards for hot water systems.
4. Long service life. Under working temperature of 70℃ and working pressure of 1.0 MPa, the service life of PP-R pipes can reach more than 50 years; at room temperature (20℃), the service life can reach more than 100 years.
5. Easy installation and reliable connection. PP-R has good welding performance. Pipes and fittings can be connected by hot melting and electrofusion, making installation easy and joints reliable. The strength of the connection is greater than that of the pipe body.
6. Recyclable materials. After cleaning and crushing, PP-R waste can be recycled for the production of pipes and fittings. The amount of recycled materials does not exceed 10% of the total amount and does not affect product quality.
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