Recent Developments in PVC-C Compound Technology

Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (PVC-C) plastic piping is often used where elevated temperature performance and excellent chemical resistance is needed. However, compared to some other plastic materials, PVC-C can be more difficult to process and generally restricted in size to smaller dimension pipe. The commercial acceptance of PVC-C piping has thus been somewhat limited, especially for industrial applications where more demanding performance and larger pipe sizes are required. As a result, two new industrial PVC-C pipe compounds have recently been developed. One product is a new ultrahigh impact strength material that has been shown to exhibit more than 5 times the toughness of most other PVCC products. The other product is a new large diameter pipe extrusion compound that allows for production of pipe sizes beyond 12” SCH80 (325x17 mm). In addition, recent technological efforts have also led to the development of a pressure rated PVC-C fitting compound that has the same design stress as PVC-C pipe. The development and attributes of each of these new products are discussed.