Technical specifications are the key to the development of my country's plastic pipe industry

The Ministry of Construction organized and compiled the "Key Technology Fields for the Promotion of Construction Industry during the 11th Five-Year Plan" and clearly stated that the plastic pipe technology should be promoted in the chemical building materials technology.

At the beginning of the new year, two pieces of information related to the plastic pipe industry attracted the attention of industry insiders. First, the "Key Technology Fields for the Promotion of Construction Industry during the 11th Five-Year Plan" organized and compiled by the Ministry of Construction was announced, which clearly stated that the plastic pipe technology should be promoted in the chemical building materials technology. Second, 7 new national standards for plastic pipes and fittings have been implemented, which respectively stipulate the new technologies that need to be promoted and applied, and the inappropriate technologies that are restricted or prohibited from use. These two pieces of information show that my country's plastic pipe development prospects are broad, but the technology urgently needs to be standardized.

The development of special materials for petrochemical enterprises promotes the rapid development of the plastic pipe industry

Plastic pipes mainly include polyvinyl chloride (PVC-U) pipes, polyethylene (PE) pipes and polypropylene (PP) pipes. Compared with traditional metal pipes and cement pipes, plastic pipes have the advantages of light weight, corrosion resistance, low water flow resistance, good comprehensive energy saving, convenient transportation and installation, and long service life. They are widely used in many fields such as urban water supply and drainage, building water supply and drainage, heating and heating, urban gas supply, agricultural irrigation and drainage, chemical pipes, and wire and cable casings.

At present, the market share of plastic pipes in various types of pipes in my country has reached more than 50%, and its production capacity reached 3.5 million tons in 2004, and it has increased at an annual growth rate of 15%.

The rapid development of the plastic pipe industry has benefited from the development of special materials for plastic pipes by its raw material supplier, petrochemical enterprises. In recent years, Sinopec's Yanshan Petrochemical, Qilu Petrochemical, Yangzi Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical and other enterprises have continuously increased their technical and economic investment in the production of special materials for plastic pipes, and the output of special materials has increased year by year. Shanghai Petrochemical introduced bimodal polyethylene production technology, which promoted the integration of polyethylene raw material production technology with international technology, and played a positive role in meeting the domestic demand for PE 100, an important raw material for plastic pipes, which is growing year by year. In February last year, Yangzi Petrochemical independently developed polyethylene YEM4902T material, passed the certification of a Swedish laboratory, and began market promotion and application. This high-performance polyethylene pipe material can be used in gas pipes, hot and cold water pipes and other building materials and civil fields.

National technical standards regulate industry growth

However, behind the rapid development of the plastic pipe industry, there are also some hidden worries. Faced with this "big cake", many companies, big and small, want to get a piece of it. It seems that overnight, thousands of plastic pipe companies have emerged, causing this industry to gradually shift from technical competition to low-level competition dominated by price competition. Some companies make a fuss about raw materials, and counterfeit and shoddy products appear from time to time.

If there are quality problems with plastic pipes, the harm is serious. Plastic pipes are generally laid in buildings or buried underground. Once leaking, some flammable and explosive objects will gush out, causing terrible accidents. Because of this, the new national standard strictly regulates the technical requirements of plastic pipes and fittings.

The national standards released recently were formulated with reference to international standards, and some contents were revised according to the changes in domestic and foreign material technology, pipe processing technology and environmental protection requirements. Among them, the technical standards for PVC-U pipes for water supply were revised according to international standards: the requirements for resin K value were added, and the use of lead salt stabilizers was prohibited, the impact energy of the drop hammer impact test was increased, the hoop stress of the hydraulic test was adjusted, and the system applicability test and size grouping and finalization inspection were added. PVC-U pipes and fittings for building drainage were also revised according to international standards: the specifications were expanded from 40 mm to 160 mm to 32 mm to 250 mm, there was a difference in the size of municipal drainage pipes, and the pipe connection added a sealing ring connection method, the classification of "superior products" and "qualified products" was cancelled, and the requirements for the socket size of pipes and fittings were increased.

Lead is harmful to the human body. The use of lead salt stabilizers is prohibited in PVC-U pipes for water supply in order to protect people's health. The requirements for increasing the impact energy of the drop hammer impact test are to make plastic pipes more durable.

In order to adapt to the new national standards, plastic pipe material manufacturers and scientific research departments need to work closely together to strengthen technological innovation, research and develop and produce more and better pipe materials. For plastic pipe manufacturers, they should reintegrate and effectively configure various resources for plastic pipe production under existing conditions, change the situation of small production scale, backward process technology, low product grade and unstable quality, and strengthen detection and control to ensure the effective implementation of the new national standards.