Polyethylene Pipe Welding Services

Butt fusion welding is the name given to hot plate welding of thermoplastic pipes. Pipe ends are brought together in the chassis of a machine where two separate pipes ends are clamped, faced square and then brought together against a heater plate under pressure for a period of time that is calculated by the pipe size – the thickness off the pipe and the cylinder area of the machine.

The heating phase, sometimes referred to as ‘bead up’, is where the pipe ends are pressed against a heated plate for a period of time. This is followed by the ‘heat soak’ phase where the pressure is reduced to just hold the pipe ends on the hot plate. This allows time for the heat to soak into the material at the pipe ends.

After the heat soak phase, the hot plate is removed and the pipe ends brought together. The time taken to do this is called ‘change over’ and needs to be as short as possible. The final phase is the welding/cooling time, predetermined subject to pipe diameter and wall thickness.

The welding process allows the technician to produce what are referred to as strings that can be anywhere from 24m up to 1000m depending on the allowable work site. The pipe string is then introduced into the trench where it is joined together either by butt fusion or electrofusion welding.

The electrofusion welding process involves the use of a moulded socket fitting containing an electrical resistive heating coil. The prepared pipe ends are inserted into the sockets and clamped. An electric current is then passed through the coil for a pre-set time.

Heating of the surrounding polymer and heat transfer to the pipe wall takes place. Cold zones at the ends of the fitting contain the melt in the central section, allowing a high melt pressure to develop and the formation of a homogeneous joint.

The process is more commonly seen in trench to join string and fittings together where butt welding was not able to be achieved efficiently. Each Fusion Solutions welding technician has a calibrated EF welding machine along with multiple rotational peelers and pipe alignment tools to ensure a successful weld is achieved every time.

Extrusion welding is a process where material is introduced via an extrusion gun which firstly preheats the two surfaces that are to be joined with a hot air blower and then melts that new material through an extruder to the nominated temperature.

The melted material is then at a molten state and exits the extruder through a Teflon shoe which is shaped to form the weld of what the technician requires. Extrusion welding can be likened to a fitter performing steel welding where he can shape materials – fittings as required and join them with a welder.

The process is more commonly seen in low pressure applications such as manholes and structures. Due to the lightweight construction, large structures are able to be prefabricated which in turn allows a shorter installation time and reduces cut in times.

With every project we have the ability to do everything from start to finish. This includes assisting with the design – sourcing the various pipe and materials. With our team of experienced technicians you will be impressed with their ability to meet your expectations in producing excellent finished products.

Need to turn a corner or offset a pipe to avoid a clash with an existing service. Fusion Solutions site specific fabricated bends allows for such challenges to be overcome quickly with minimal delay. We also supply your everyday injection moulded fittings up to 1200mm such as couplers, stub flanges and backing rings.

Fusion Solutions can supply pipe nationwide with different extrusion processes offered up to 2 meters in diameter to provide the best value for the client depending on the application required.

Contact us today to receive your pricelist for fittings: