ASTM Int'l Approves Butt Fusion Joint Test Method - ASTM F 2634
September 6, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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Pipe and resin manufacturers, municipalities and gas companies will be able to use an ASTM International standard to qualify the butt fusion parameters and procedures for different pipe materials.
Subcommittee F17.40 on Test Methods, part of ASTM International Committee F17 on Plastic Piping Systems, developed the standard, ASTM F 2634 - Test Method for Laboratory Testing of Polyethylene (PE) Butt Fusion Joints Using Tensile-Impact Method.
According to Jim Craig, F17.20 subcommittee chairman and industry relations manager at McElroy Manufacturing Inc., the test described in ASTM F 2634 was used in the industry for more than 25 years and was used to qualify the parameters and procedures outlined in the Plastics Pipe Institute Technical Report TR-33-2006 - Generic Butt Fusion Joining Procedures for Field Joining of Polyethylene Pipe.
The test develops enough tensile impact energy at specific rates of strain to rupture standard tensile impact specimens of butt fused plastic pipe.
The test method can be used to determine the quality of PE butt fusion joints made in the field or in qualification testing. It can also be used to determine the optimum butt fusion joining parameters of PE materials.
"[ASTM] F 2634 can be used to qualify equipment operators using approved fusion procedures," said Craig. "It can also be used by anyone seeking a destructive test to determine the quality of a fused joint."
Craig said that the subcommittee is seeking participation from testing laboratories, resin and pipe manufacturers and research foundations in its continuing work on ASTM F 2634 and other standards developing activities.
Source: ASTM International.