The butt fusion (hot plate) welding process for polyethylene pipe of 125 and 400mm diameter

TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 434/1991

By J Sims

Background

Polyethylene pipes, which are widely used for gas, water and effluent transmission are commonly joined using the butt fusion (hot plate) process. This report describes experiments on 125mm and 400mm diameter polyethylene pipe carried out to investigate reduced heating times in the welding process. It is shown that using automatic equipment, which provides short hot plate removal times, welding times can be reduced. A new test procedure is described which provides a more promising means of studying butt fusion welds.