Reinforced thermoplastic pipe

RTP is a plastic pipe, initially developed by Akzo Nobel early 90s and by Tubes d'Aquitaine [ [http://www.materials-careers.org.uk/careers/tubes.htm Tubes d'Aquitaine - Inventor of RTPs] ] from France, who developed the first pipes reinforced with synthetic fiber to replace steel high pressure pipes.
Material of the pipe might be Polyethylene (PE), Polyamide-11 or PVDF and can be reinforced with Aramid or Polyester fibre. [ [http://www.automateddynamics.com/docs/thermoplastic_composites.pdf Different materials for RTP - CEAC Automated Dynamics] ]
Nowadays the technology of producing such pipe including the marketing is mainly in hands of Pipelife with Soluforce and available in coils up to 400m length. These pipes are available in pressure ratings from 30 to 90Bar. The last few years this type of pipe is acknowledged as the standardised solution for oilfield flowlines. [cite journal |author= Bert Dalmolen| title= Reinforced thermoplastic pipe: standardised composite solution for oilfield flowlines| journal= Petromin| year= 2006| volume= | issue= October| pages=30–37| url= http://www.petromin.safan.com/mag/poct06/t30.pdf| format= dead link|date=June 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3A+intitle%3AReinforced+thermoplastic+pipe%3A+standardised+composite+solution+for+oilfield+flowlines&as_publication=Petromin&as_ylo=2006&as_yhi=2006&btnG=Search Scholar search]} ] A very great advantage of this pipe is also its very fast installation time compared to steel pipe as average speeds up to 1000m/day have been reached installing RTP in ground surface. [ cite journal |author= Soluforce| title= Soluforce lays Sumatra pipeline in a jiffy| journal= PetroMin| year= 2006| volume= | issue= December| pages=32–34| url= http://www.petromin.safan.com/mag/pdec06/t32.pdf| format= dead link|date=June 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3A+intitle%3ASoluforce+lays+Sumatra+pipeline+in+a+jiffy&as_publication=PetroMin&as_ylo=2006&as_yhi=2006&btnG=Search Scholar search]} ]
The pipe mainly benefits applications where steel fails due to corrosion and installation time is an issue.

Technology and history

The idea of synthetic fiber reinforced pipe came from Akzo Nobel, where Bert Dalmolen initiated a project to develop such a pipe. He was later hired by Pipelife where a state of art production line was developed to produce RTP. Pipelife also developed a pipe reinforced with steel wire to achieve even higher pressure ratings of over 150Bar.Mr Chevrier (Tubes d'Aquitaine) also developed machinery that could produce such pipes, but was not successful in commercialising RTP. [ [http://www.polymer-age.co.uk/archive59.htm#K-M%20acquires%20reinforced%20pipe%20technology K-M acquires reinforced pipe technology] ] [cite journal | author= Kraus-Maffei | title= Hochdruckrohre wirtschaftlich fertigen)| journal= Extrusion| year= 2005| volume= 5| issue= | pages=24–27 | url=http://www.krauss-maffei.de/files.php?dl_mg_id=11&file=dl_mg_1155736317.pdf]

External links

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* [http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/DATABASE.CART/WORKITEMS/WK11803.htm?E+mystore ASTM Standard for RTP WK11803]
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* [http://www.soluforce.net/ Soluforce homepage]

ee also

* Plastic Pressure Pipe Systems
* Pipeline transport
* Soluforce

Notes and References

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