Study on natural aging behavior of buried polyethylene water supply pipeline in service

doi:10.19491/j.issn.1001-9278.2022.02.008

Abstract

Abstract:

This paper reported a study on the natural aging behavior of buried polyethylene （PE） water supply pipelines in service of 7~12 years in Taizhou， China. The variations of unsaturated groups， chain scission and branching， carbonyl index， hydroxyl index of the PE pipelines in service and the thermal stability， molecular weight， oxidation induction time， microscopic morphology， yield strength and tensile modulus of the pipes with different service times were investigated using infrared spectrometer， differential scanning calorimeter， and scanning electron microscope， etc. The results indicated that during the service of buried PE water supply pipelines， the pipes were in the physical aging stage within the first 7 years in service under the protection of antioxidants， and their microstructure and mechanical properties were basically unchanged. After servicing for 7 years， the pipes entered the chemical aging stage， and the content of unsaturated groups and characteristic peaks of chain scission increased gradually. The thermal stability and mechanical properties of the pipes were improved due to a crosslinking reaction. After servicing for 9 years， the degree of oxidation increased sharply， the auto?oxidation reaction was enhanced， the content of the carbonyl increased， the chain scission became the main reaction， the thermal stability and mechanical properties decreased rapidly， and a great number of cracks formed on the surface of the pipes. By nonlinear fitting the antioxidant depletion time curve， the depletion time of antioxidant in the pipes was calculated to be 24.08 years in the service state.

Key words: polyethylene water supply pipeline, service environment, natural aging, structure, property

CLC Number:

TQ325.1⁺2

ZHANG Xuemin, HOU Lin, FENG Jinmao, YAO Zhongliang, ZHONG Mingqiang. Study on natural aging behavior of buried polyethylene water supply pipeline in service[J]. China Plastics, 2022, 36(2): 49-55.

Figures/Tables 9

服役时间/年	管道等级	公称直径/mm	公称壁厚/mm
0	PE100	110	10.0
7	PE100	75	5.6
9	PE100	90	6.7
12	PE100	90	4.3

Tab.1. Information of pipeline

Fig.1. FTIR spectra of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.2. Variation of characteristic peak content of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.3. TG curves of PE pipes under different service time

服役时间/年	T₅_% /°C	T₁₀_% /°C	T_p /°C
0	450.83	463.83	510.33
7	448.34	461.00	509.67
9	450.83	462.83	509.83
12	442.83	456.50	504.17

Tab.2. Thermal stability of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.4. MFR of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.5. OIT of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.6. Surface morphologies of PE pipes under different service time

Fig.7. Mechanical properties of PE pipes under different service time

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