Quality Control for Plastic Tubes
A new ASTM International standard will empower producers of certain kinds of plastic tubes to conduct better, faster quality control testing at a lower cost and with greater accuracy.
Due to its enhanced properties, cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) is increasingly used to make plastic tubes for building systems as well as for the oil, gas, chemical, sewage, and water industries. The new standard (soon to be published as F3203, Test Method for Determination of Gel Content of Crosslinked Polyethylene (PEX) Pipes and Tubing) will replace existing methods of determining the degree of cross-linking that are more time consuming and not specific to plastic pipes.
“The new test method will benefit PEX pipe manufacturers by greatly reducing a quality assurance bottleneck,” says ASTM member Robert Samplonius, a lab manager at Kafrit NA Ltd. “This will lead to decreased testing costs and improved sustainability.”
The new standard was developed by ASTM’s committee on plastic piping systems (F17). The committee is working on a intralaboratory study to develop a complete precision and bias statement for the standard. Interested parties are invited to participate.
ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. Become a member at www.astm.org/JOIN.
ASTM Committee F17 on Plastic Piping Systems Next Meeting: Nov. 15-17, 2016, November Committee Week, Orlando, Fla.
Technical Contact: Robert Samplonius, Kafrit NA Ltd., British Columbia, Canada, tel +1.604.607.6730
ASTM Staff Contact: Robert Morgan, tel +1.610.832.9732
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