September 2018 Vol. 4

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Your Global Source of Poly Pipe News and Technology


Fletcher Building’s Earnings Drop 23% with $220 million Impairment Against its Iplex Australia and Tradelink Business Units
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fletcher-buildings-earnings-drop-23-per-cent

Iplex Seeking Senior Operations Manager
https://au.linkedin.com/jobs/view/senior-operations-manager%2C-victoria-at-iplex-pvt-ltd-872412542

Pay the PEX Piper Say Industry Experts
https://www.rehva.eu/publications-and-resources/rehva-journal/2018/042018/pay-the-pex-piper-say-industry-experts.html

Navigating Liability for Defective Plastic Piping Products
https://www.constructionexec.com/article/navigating-liability-for-defective-products

Vinidex Durapipe’s Vulcathene Expanding Research in $20 Mill Melbourne Project
http://www.buildingtalk.com/durapipes-vulcathene-expanding-research-in-melbourne-project/

City West Water GRP Pipe Installation Update
https://www.viadux.com.au/industries/industry-case-studies/rothwell-west-branch-sewer

Application of GFRP for Unburied Submarine Pipeline in Shallow Water
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%29PS.1949-1204.0000343

London’s Antiquated Gas Mains Being Replaced With Modern HDPE Piping System
https://press.mcelroy.com/londons-antiquated-gas-mains-being-replaced-with-modern-piping-system/

Polyethylene (PE) Pipeline Code Provides Water Industry Practitioners with Best Practice in the Use of PE pipeline Systems Updated 2018
https://www.wsaa.asn.au/shop/product/27066

PE112 Pipe World-Class Standard for Water Pipelines and Collaboration for Sustainability (Video)
https://www.scgchemicals.com/en/news-media/media/video/18

Reliance Industries Now Producing Polypropylene PP-R Pipes
http://www.ril.com/DownloadFiles/Polymers/brochure/pipes_brochure.pdf

PEX Pipe Quality Varies Widely According to New Study
“One of the difficulties with the PEX pipe market is that all the pipe looks the same whereas the quality of the cross-linking can vary considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer especially if the sample is taken from a wide range of suppliers”
https://cloud.excelplas.com/index.php/s/yioY5H6DI5DBxBK/download

Addressing the Concerns Around Shrink-Fit Plastic Plumbing Systems
https://www.uponor.co.uk/company/news/news-items-south-west/addressing-the-concerns-around-quick-and-easy-plumbing-system

Plastic Pipe Class Action Update
https://www.dulciecrawford.com/kitec-class-action-update/

Plasson HDPE Pipe Fittings on Show at Electra Mining
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/pipe-fittings-on-show-at-electra-mining-2018-08-31

AGRU HDPE Piping System Fights Plastics Waste in the Pacific
https://agruamerica.com/fighting-plastic-waste/

Tasmanian Poly Fusion Pipe Supplier Winning Major Projects
https://tefcodist.com.au/industry/commercial-plumbing/

HDPE Pipe Welder Spotlight: TRACSTAR® 500 SERIES 3
https://press.mcelroy.com/product-spotlight-tracstar-500-series-3/

Fusion Western Sydney Seeking HDPE Pipe Layer
https://au.linkedin.com/jobs/view/pipe-layer-sydney-at-fusion-western-sydney-857242350

Plastic Pipe Failure Analysis Laboratory (ExcelPlas Australia)

Failures of plastic piping systems and components often result in costly downtime and can cause damage to facilities, the environment, and people.  Increasingly, modern industry and regulatory demands place a tighter operating envelope around nearly every product or process.  These increased constraints push materials and processes to the limit.  The rapid pace of innovation as well as a backlog of fixed infrastructure maintenance and upgrades is a perfect recipe for sudden catastrophic failure.  At such critical times, skillful testing, investigations and reconstructions are needed to uncover the circumstances leading to failure.

The ExcelPlas team can provide:
* Failure Analysis
* Fractography & Microstructural Evaluations
* Oxidative Stress Cracking due to Chlorine
* Butt and Electrofusion Welding & Joining Process Evaluation
* Polymer Materials Selection
* Incident Investigation
* Fitness for Service Evaluation
* Risk Based Inspection

ExcelPlas has a wide variety of lab assets, including tensile testing, pressure testing, microscopy, strain monitoring, polymer science, etching and polishing equipment, Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, and DSC, TGA thermal analysis.
Our decades of industry experience, the use of sophisticated failure analysis techniques, and specialized laboratory equipment combine to identify the active damage mechanism(s) and the root cause(s) of failure. This translates into long-term cost saving benefits as well as improved safety and reliability.  We work to your unique requirements.  Whether you need a simple failure analysis or a comprehensive root cause investigation that involves intensive laboratory and field work, our diverse team of experts has you covered.
http://www.excelplas.com/

ExcelPlas has extensive experience investigating plastic pipe system failures, and can provide a root cause diagnosis.
The transportation of liquids and gases from one point to another has become an integral part of our lives. Plastic pipe systems (extruded pipes and injection moulded fittings) are used in many service installations including potable water, water heating, sprinklers or compressed air and in underground applications such as sewerage and land drainage. The application will dictate the type of pipe system specified – for example systems based on UPVC, CPVC, ABS, etc.
With most pipe system installations consisting of kilometres of pipe and potentially thousands of fittings, failures over time are an unfortunate but common occurrence.
Our experience shows these typically originate from four key sources:

  • Faults in the original pipe or joint components (manufacturing)
  • Faulty installation / engineering (workmanship)
  • Contamination effects, e.g. solvent cement effects (environment)
  • System operating outside of design criteria (end-user operation)

The consequences of such failure can vary dramatically dependent on the final application and location – from small scale failures in the home to potentially catastrophic industrial installation failures with significant associated damage and financial loss.
Supported by our extensive microscopy, analytical, material and product testing laboratories ExcelPlas are able to fully characterise polymer composition and mechanical performance in order to assess the cause of product / material failure. This can involve recommendations for remedial or corrective actions to minimise the risk of further failure. Our capabilities and experience investigating plastic pipe system failures provides valuable support to the service installation sector.
http://www.excelplas.com/

ExcelPlas – the Australian Pipes & Fittings Testing Laboratory

  • The Australian Pipes & Fittings Testing Laboratory is accredited to ISO 17025 by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) Australia, and is Australia’s largest laboratory dedicated for the testing of plastic pipes and fittings to various Standards which include Australian, European and International Standards.
  • The staff employed at the laboratory have a combined experience of more than 85 years within the plastics industry specifically with manufacturing, quality control and the research and development of plastic piping systems including HDPE, PEX, PP-R, PVC, U-PVC, M-PVC, O-PVC, ABS, GRP, GRE and PB.
  • Services provided include conformance testing, compliance testing, batch release testing, root cause analysis for field failures and non-destructive testing of samples.
  • http://www.excelplas.com/

ExcelPlas Lab Specialising in HDPE Pipe Condition Monitoring, Failure Analysis and Testing
In the event of a HDPE buttweld or electrofusion weld failing during initial testing, or in service, we can conduct investigations to assist in identifying the root cause of the failure.
This service also extends to the premature failure of the pipe or fitting itself.
http://www.excelplas.com/plastic-pipes

ExcelPlas Pipe Testing is a Leader in the Field of Polyethylene (PE) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Testing
ExcelPlas is accredited with the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) for butt weld tests, bend and tensile tests, peel decohesion tests on electro fusion sockets and failure mode determination
http://www.polypipetesting.com.au/butt-fusion-welds/

New UHMWPE Pipe for Tailing Offers Greater Than 4X the Abrasion Resistance of PE100 (Australia wide)
http://slurrypipes.com.au/


ExcelPlas Poly Pipe Weld Inspection Lists Top 7 Causes of Weld Failure:
• Lack of scraping
• Inaccurate scraping
• Contamination from dirt, water, oil or clays
• Lack of Paralell-ness of fusion faces
• Misalignment of surfaces
• Time, temperature and pressure deviations
• Not adhering to cool times

We have extensive experience in inspection of poly pipe welds for assuring welded joint quality.  Direct Poly Pipe Inspection ensures that operators are following the proven welding procedure; this reduces the occurrences of operational errors which lead to defects such as inclusions, lack of fusion (LoF), porosity and misalignment.
More information, contact [email protected]

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