It is well known the need of water infrastructure in every country is forcing to lower product and installation costs, transmitting the pressure on installers and pipe manufacturers.
MOLECOR has developed and set-up over the world an air based revolutionary technology, for producing Molecular Oriented PVC pipes with the highest degree of orientation: PVC-O Class 500. But what is Molecular Orientation and PVC-O?
Molecular Orientation is a physical process that modifies plastic molecular structure, without changing its chemical properties. So, after the orientation process, it continues being PVC, but with better characteristics.
PVC-O is the result of the reorganization of the amorphous structure of PVC-U into a layered structured, that provides huge advantages such as unbeatable mechanical properties in plastic pipes, material savings and efficient installation.
PVC-O pipes present many advantages compared to the main plastic solutions available in the market, but in this article we will focus on the comparison with PVC-U pipes.
MARKET
PVC-O is a revolutionary product able to cover pipe markets where traditional PVC-U was not present, because it can be produced to resist nominal pressures up to PN 25 bars. This means that this product can substitute other traditional high pressure materials such as Ductile Iron; always having into account that the water quality is preserved due to the fact that PVC-O is a non-degradable material.
PVC-O is capable of providing high material savings, without affecting the final quality of the product. Apart from cost repercussion, this means lighter and stronger pipes.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
PVC-O pipe, due to its laminar molecular structure, is able to achieve outstanding mechanical properties capable to easily beat conventional PVC-U: high impact resistance (almost unbreakable), high stiffness and fatigue resistance, crack propagation prevention, an excellent behaviour with external loads, and maximum ductility.
Image 1: PVC-O and PVC-U mechanical properties comparison
Taking as value 1 for PVC-U, represented by the grey cube on the picture, it is clearly visible that PVC-O material surpasses PVC-U in all the stated properties.
INSTALLATION
Also PVC-O pipes offer a bigger hydraulic capacity, minimum loss of pressure, and a significant reduction in wall thickness and therefore in weight, which means transportation and installation savings. All these improvements are made with lower raw material consumption for the same requirement of pipe, resulting in a significant cost reduction.
Image 2: PVC-O pipes installation
Due to their lightness, they can be lifted without mechanical assistance such as hoists, cranes, etc. (up to a diameter of 315 mm).
Image 3: Weight comparison of six-meter pipes
For instance, for DN200/PN16, a PVC-O six-meter pipes weights 28Kg, for the 61Kg of PVC-U pipe.
MOST ECOLOGICAL SOLUTION FOR WATER TRANSPORTATION
PVC-O pipe is the most ecological and environmental friendly solution for water transportation according to “Piping Systems. Embodied Energy Analysis” CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) (October 2002). This report shows the embodied energy comparison of different material pipes, defining embodied energy as “the amount of energy to construct and maintain the item, component or building over the whole life cycle.”
Image 4: Embodied Energy of different materials
With regard to water quality, PVC-O is also one of the best options in the market, since it is a completely corrosion-resistant material; it is immune to corrosion and to natural chemical substances.
As conclusion, we could say that the last generation of PVC-O technologies developped by Molecor allows simple transformations of standard PVC-U lines into PVC-O lines, bringing extreme savings for pipe manufacturers, and high benefits for potential pipe customers and end users, which will welcome this high class and environmental friendly solution in this global challenging situation. PVC-O water sector is encouraged to be a sustainable solution for generations to come.