Although the plastics industry is a relatively young materials segment, the production of
industrial volumes of PVC polymer and PVC-U pipes is now about 70 years old, which is close to the predicted service lifetime of 100 years for PVC pipe applications.
After the reunification of East and West Germany in 1989 and the involvement of Omniplast with pipe production in Bitterfeld, it was possible to excavate and test PVC -U pipes from the early production years, as they were still in use in 1992/3.
A comprehensive series of tests on several of these old pipes and pipes produced in Troisdorf in the 1930īs and 1950īs was carried out, and the results compared against the current norms. The results provide an excellent basis on which to compare the data from the original long term pressure tests with actual results from 60 year old pipes.
This is not only an interesting reflection of the history of PVC pipe production and application as well as a confirmation of the long term performance predicted 60 years ago, but it is also an mportant contribution to future PVC pipe developments
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