Improvement of Existing Chlorine Resistance Method and Discussion of Method’s Suitability for Different Polyolefin Materials [PEX]

The successful development of a material depends on reliable test methods to evaluate its suitability for the end use conditions. The use of existing thermo oxidative chlorine resistance method may serve as a tool for evaluating the variability of chlorine resistance on materials of the same type as long as no significant scatter, stress dependency or temperature dependency of results is observed. However, this paper discusses limitations of the method when comparing performance of different hot and cold water polyolefine piping materials and if not correct test temperatures and/or hoop stresses are applied. New additional validation criteria and improvements of reporting requirements are discussed to secure correct use of thermo oxidative chlorine data.