Lifetime prediction of a blue PE100 water pipe

The traditional method to assess the lifetime of plastic pipes is based on hydrostatic pressure testing. A complementary approach has been conducted to monitor the depletion of antioxidants and initiation of thermo-oxidative degradation on a PE100 blue water pipe that had been exposed to hydrostatic pressure in water at low test temperatures (maximum 80 °C). Depletion of antioxidants was monitored using OIT testing and initiation of thermo-oxidative degradation was assessed by iodometric detection of hydroperoxides. An empirical model based on the Arrhenius fit of the data was developed to extrapolate the lifetime of the PE100 pipe material at various service temperatures (10–25 °C). Associated activation energies, E a, were determined and appeared to be in line with the values obtained from experiments carried out at low test temperatures. The combination of pressure testing and chemical analyses proved to be a very powerful tool to extrapolate the lifetime of plastic pipes.