Lucy CROKER
Lucy Croker is a Product Applications Specialist for Vinidex Pty Limited, a leading Australian manufacturer of PVC, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) pipe and fittings systems for building, infrastructure, rural, mining, and industrial applications. Vinidex is backed by the strength of Aliaxis, a global leader in advanced fluid management solutions. Lucy’s career with Vinidex has spanned more than 25 years in technical service and technical marketing roles.
Lucy represents Vinidex on the Plastics Industry Pipe Association of Australia’s (PIPA) PVC and Polyolefins technical committees and is actively involved in Standards Australia technical committees for plastic pipes and fittings systems.
Lucy holds a Bachelor of Science (Technology) degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales.
ABSTRACt
ID29- Case Study - Fusion parameters for large diameter PE pipes
In 2023 PIPA undertook an extensive revision of their Industry Guidance document known as POP003 Butt Fusion Jointing of PE Pipes and Fittings – Recommended Parameters and Practices. This revision introduced a new section providing additional guidance around best practices for butt fusion. One of the best practice elements focussed on optimising the fusion parameters particularly as PE pipelines are increasingly being used in larger diameter critical applications.
A group of PIPA members collaborated to examine the impact of differing parameters within the ISO21307 Plastics pipes and fittings — Butt fusion jointing procedures for polyethylene (PE) piping systems. The work specifically focussed on the single high pressure fusion envelope to see if additional detail could be provided in relation to optimising outcomes. A DN800 SDR11 PE100 pipe was fused using a range of different parameters, sectioned and destructively tested.
This paper details the outcome of that work and draws conclusions about fusion of large diameter PE100 pipe.