SABIC joins forces with major pipe manufacturer to launch innovative pipe technology

Stad, The Netherlands, 7 September 2021 - Today, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the world's leading diversified chemical company, announced the launch of a new technology and line of specialty polyethylene and polypropylene resins designed to transform polyolefins into A major leap forward in pressure piping performance
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SABIC teamed up with Tecnomatic and aquatherm, two giants in the pipe manufacturing industry, to bring this technology from concept to reality
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At the International Plastic Pipe XX (PPXX) Conference & Exhibition, which will be held from September 6th to 8th, 2021, SABIC will be the "Gold Sponsor" of the exhibition to explain the new product concept and present this innovation in the PPXX technical seminar technology
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As the global population continues to grow, there is a need for more durable, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly plumbing systems to meet the growing demand for safe drinking water and sanitation
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Since the application of polyolefins to the production of pressure pipes, the industry has been continuously working on improving the performance and expanding the application range of polyolefin pipes
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Today, SABIC has successfully formulated specialty polyethylene and polypropylene resins for biaxially oriented processes, helping manufacturers improve critical properties of pressure piping to unprecedented levels
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This new resin product, combined with BiAx stretching technology, will help create a new generation of piping systems that are lighter, stronger, more energy efficient and more economical
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Compared to existing polyolefin pipe products, SABIC's innovative BiAx pipe technology achieves significant improvements across the entire range of performance criteria
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Greater internal pressure resistance helps reduce wall thickness, which can reduce raw material consumption by at least 30%
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Excellent slow crack growth (SCG) properties are very beneficial for trenchless pipeline installation
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In addition, the ultra-smooth inner wall surface reduces the energy required for pumping
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Pipe products produced with this technology have higher abrasion resistance and longer service life, enabling a major leap in performance improvement for polyolefin pipes
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In addition, the new polyethylene and polypropylene pipe products are more resistant to disinfectants, have a lower coefficient of linear thermal expansion, and have higher low temperature impact strength
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SABIC is currently working closely with a number of pipeline industry leaders to validate testing and drive time-to-market for the new BiAx polyolefin pipeline technology
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As part of this partnership, Italian pipe manufacturing equipment company Tecnomatic has installed a fully integrated BiAx continuous pipe extrusion line, and has used SABIC special resins to evaluate, test and optimize the entire process
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On this line, a traditional extrusion molding process is used to create small-diameter, thick-walled pipes, which are then simultaneously stretched in both directions on a heated mandrel to achieve larger diameters and thinner wall thicknesses
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This process operation imparts the typical BiAx properties to the pipe product
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Another partner in the project, aquatherm, is a global leader in PPR piping systems with a broad product line, application expertise and market expertise
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The company aims to promote SABIC's advanced biaxial tension pressure piping technology in a wide variety of applications
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