Next Frontier in PE100 Product Design: a Structure-properties Approach

Session 6A
1:40 pm

Adrian Popa, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe

Since its introduction in the fifties, HDPE pressure pipes showed a rapid growth and successful track record in the industry. Different generations of polyethylene products were developed throughout the time to meet increasingly high mechanical performance requirements from pipe industry, end-users and most recent demand for sustainable solutions.

While present generation of PE100 materials delivers excellent combination of high resistance to creep, rapid crack propagation resistance as well as slow crack growth, market requirements continue to fuel product development activities. This resulted in the new and latest materials generation (i.e. PE100-RC) exhibiting enhanced environmental stress crack resistance, consistent with trendy new pipe installations techniques which besides obvious economical advantages of easy-to-lay techniques reduce the environmental impact compare to conventional techniques.

Development activities resulted also in PE100 materials with high resistance to sagging during pipe extrusion for production of increasingly large diameter pipes without rate penalty. This paper outlines advances reached in Polyethylene structure-properties relationships that supported the development of these new product generations.

The information presented shows extensive research work over polyethylene structure property relationship conducted by INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe till the latest material generation (i.e. PE100-RC) and provides key building blocks to the development of a universal PE100 material. The environmental benefits of using latest PE100-RC generation in non-conventional techniques will be studied as an answer to the current European market trend for more environmental friendly solutions in pipe systems.

Luc D’heur, Choon Chai, Marianne Reignier, Adrian Popa
INEOS Olefins & Polymers, Belgium