How to choose right fiberglass TCP and RTP pipe line
Fiberglass TCP pipe and RTP pipe machinery line system is able to manufacture up to DN200. In previous market, It was hard to make larger diameters RTP/TCP pipe due to line winding machines, heating device of TCP pipe etc.
Banline Machinery China and Banline USA team redesign the fiberglass TCP pipe and RTP pipe wrapping machine, which can produce up to DN 630 under fully bonded fiberglass reinforcement thermoplastic composite pipe technology as called TCP-Ultra™ line and TCP-Wave™ line. This article will tell pipe experts what need to pay attention when consider to choose fiberglass reinforced , carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic plastic composite pipe line.
Fiberglass TCP Liner Technology
Fiberglass TCP pipe liner will need to fulfill its function of containing the transported fluid, the liner material should have adequate resistance to degradation from all the components of the fluid.
The oil gas composite pipe polymers used in the liner, fiber matrix, and outer layer are always of the same type. Banline machinery TCP-Ultra TCP pipe production line for oil gas is able to apply PolyEthylene (PE), and polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), PolyAmide (PA12), Polyethylene of Raised Temperature (PERT), etc. as polymers, and glass or carbon fibers as reinforcement.
For reinforced thermoplastic pipe, cold & hot water use TCP pipe or RTP pipe is able to use PE-X, PE-RT, etc, which have oxygen permeability, the oxygen concentration will increase as temperature rises. EVOH material has barrier resistance, and still able to use in fiberglass TCP and fiberglass RTP pipe. Based upon multi-layer co-extrusion technology, a 3-layer co-extruded pipe of PE-RT and EVOH is produced. There are 5 layers of co-extruded TCP and RTP pipe with the structure from the inside to the outside: PE-RT/adhesive/EVOH/adhesive/PE-RT. EVOH barrier performance to hydrocarbons is about 4,400 times better than that of HDPE and many times greater than that of nylon 6, which makes them ideal for safe, light, durable, and environmentally friendly fuel system components.
Choose right Fiberglass tape wrapping, heating, and cooling machinery
Continuous fiberglass reinforced thermoplastic pipe has challenging part during the fiberglass tape wrapping process. These are heating for bonding performance and gaps between each wrapped fiberglass tape.
Bonding quality is based on the TCP pipe heating process after wrapping fiberglass tape layers, instantaneously heating, and cooling is the most ideal solution. The current technology for heating has infrared heating, laser heating, etc. however, due to instantaneously heating and cooling control difficulties, fusion bonding technology is still improving. Therefore, when client search for new thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP pipe) machine, or fiberglass reinforced pipe, they will need to pay attention for fast heating and fast cooling technology. The following is why should pay attention to it:
Why TCP pipe line heating and cooling process is important
Each TCP pipe and RTP pipe heating shall be heated around 900℃– 1000℃（1620℉-1800℉）instantaneously in order to achieve quality fusion bonding performance between the inner layer ( liner) and fiberglass tape, then be sure fast cooling is important after each heating process in order to avoid the deformation of the liner because during the TCP wrapping process, fiberglass TCP tape has tensile force on the liner, if TCP core pipe ( liner) too soft due to insufficient cooling procedure, the liner will deformation during wrapping procedure. For the heating process, heating temperature shall be at least 700℃（1292℉）, Banline TCP-Ultra is able to reach 900℃– 1000℃（1620℉-1800℉）in order to achieve high-quality fusion bonding performance.
Each wrapping, the cooling process is the same as mentioned before. In other words, fast heating and fast cooling during the fusion bonded process are quite important after wrapping each reinforced fiberglass layer.
Wrapped fiberglass tape gaps
The planetary type of wrapping machine has the potential limitation of fiberglass width, therefore, most of the fiberglass RTP/TCP pipe planetary-wrapping machine uses a smaller width (usually 50mm, 60mm) of fiberglass tape. Fiberglass TCP wrapping depends on the GF wrapping angle, glassfire tape multi-wrapping sets needs to ensure that each fiberglass tape wrapped interspace from the wrapping reel is even.
Preliminary identification can be used by checking the interspace between wrapped glass fiber tape; If the interspace between each wrapped fiberglass RTP and TCP tape is large but even or each fiberglass tape overlapped after the wrapping process, adjusting the line speed to the appropriate level is a desirable solution. On another hand, if un-even interspace between wrapped fiberglass tape happened, interspace adjustment of wrapped fiberglass tape shall be complicated because the machinery manufacturer will need to check and adjust each wrapping reel set. Un-even wrapped fiberglass tape has a potential influence for the TCP pipe body, you can also find the Irregular traces on the TCP cover layer.
In order to solve this problem, there are two methods: 1. Reduce multi-wrapping reel sets. For example, reduce 4 planetary fiberglass wrapping reels to 2 wrapping reels. 2. Adjust the angle of each fiberglass wrapping reel, adjust wrapping reel anteroposterior position, etc. According to our experience, multi wrapping reel sets have more challenges to avoid uneven interspace, but its too early to say planetary wrapping method not reliable.
We and our US team redesign the fiberglass tape machine by using single co-axis wrapping technology, which also can use 90mm – 360mm fiberglass tape (nominal width shall be a multiple of 5 mm) for the wrapping process.
Fiberglass tape adjustable width and thickness
The maximum wrappable fiberglass composite pipe tape width is upon 360mm, ( Fiberglass tape width generally from 90mm – 360mm, preferred nominal width shall be a multiple of 5 mm, enabling an approximate correspondence to be maintained with inch sizes.) different fiberglass wrapping machine sets suit for different fiberglass composite pipe used tape. There are two mainstream types of fiberglass tape wrapping machines, one is the planetary-wrapping machine from Ridgeway Machinery, another one is the co-axis wrapping machine from Banline TCP-Ultra Machinery.
Wish this article can help pipe experts to think about more when search for new bonded fiberglass thermoplastic composite pipe machinery. We are glad to share our experience of fiberglass TCP machinery, and provide help for your next project.
If your team is considering to start the new project with fiberglass, Please do not hesitate to contact us via email: owen.chen@banline.com or GlobalService@banline.com.
Banline Global Service
Please visit our headquater website to know more about the material behind the TCP technology : www.banzanchem.com
