- Slurry Pipes is a division of Roll-a-Pipe Pty Ltd. which specializes in providing wear-resistant Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) pipes (Ultra PE Pipe™) to the mining and dredging industries.
- Slurry Pipes offers a large range of wear and abrasion resistant pipes for applications such as dredging pipe, slurry pipes for hydrotransport, mineral sands pipelines, mine tailings pipelines, mine concentrate pipeline and waste water and pipelines, conveyance iron ore slurry, – coal / cement slurry and slurry transportation in mines.
About Ultra PE Pipe™
Ultra PE Pipe™
- Ultra wear resistant
- Ultra low friction
- Ultra smooth
- Ultra tough
- Ultra high molecular weight
Uses of UHMWPE Pipe
- Dredging Pipe
- Slurry Pipe
- Mineral Sands Pipelines
- Mine tailings Pipelines
- Mine Concentrate Pipelines
- Water and Sewerage Pipelines
Lower Downtime
- Ultra PE pipes offer: Lower Maintenance Costs, Less Maintenance Downtime.
- Pipeline downtime due to wear, fouling, corrosion etc. can cost you millions of dollars. Since Ultra PE pipe offers unparalleled protection against abrasion, corrosion and leakage, it minimizes both planned and unscheduled downtime. As a result, Ultra PE pipe helps cut operating costs, improve transfer efficiencies and maximize your plant’s throughput.
- REDUCE DOWNTIME AND MAINTENANCE COSTS With exceptional wear resistance and low friction coefficient, Ultra PE slurry and tailings pipe helps you reduce downtime and operating costs. more
- The superior wear resistance of UHMWPE pipe significantly increases the time between pipe replacements and/or rotations leading to large savings by way of reduced maintenance costs and time.
Reduced Pumping Costs
- Ultra UHMWPE Pipes also offer significant cost savings through increased pumping efficiency. Since the inner bore of Ultra PE pipes is extremely smooth and self lubricating (comparable to PTFE (Teflon™)).
- The low coefficient of friction of the pipe surface leads to lower pressure loss and hence reduced energy inputs for pumping slurries.
UHMWPE pipe
What is UHMWPE
- Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is a new kind of engineering thermoplastics with more than 3 million viscosity-average molecular weight. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene pipe has superior performance over conventional HDPE pipe such as very high wear resistance, impact resistance, excellent resistance to internal pressure strength, resistance to environmental stress cracking, intrinsically self-lubricating, anti-adhesion, low temperature resistance and excellent chemical resistance.
Role of Molecular Weight
- UHMWPE denotes Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene which is a polyethylene polymer with an average molecular weight is greater than 3,100,000 as defined by ASTM D4020 – Standard specification for UHMWPE polymers. This molecular weight is well above the molecular weight of most typical polymers which are between 1,000,000 and 400,000 thus earning the title Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. Polyethylenes with molecular weight in the 3.1 -4.5 Million range have been found to exhibit the best combination of impact strength and abrasion resistance. For Polyethylene molecular weight classification the following guidelines can be used:
- HDPE (High Density Polyethylene): 100,000 – 400,000 MW
- HMWHDPE (High Molecular Weight High Density Polyethylene) 500,000 – 1,999,999
- VHMWHDPE (Very High Molecular Weight High Density Polyethylene) 2,000,000 – 3,100,000
- UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) > 3,100,000 + MW
Attributes of UHMWPE Pipes
- Abrasion resistance – UHMWPE pipes have excellent abrasion resistance providing long life in abrasive slurry applications.
- Chemical resistance – outstanding resistance to a wide range of chemical reagents allows the use of UHMWPE systems in tailings pipelines and chemical treatment applications used in mining operations.
- Flexibility – UHMWPE pipes can be bent to a minimum of 30 times the pipe’s outside diameter for HDPE. This flexibility and resiliency allows the pipe to absorb surge pressures, vibration and stresses caused by soil movement. This makes the pipes particularly useful in submarine pipe lines, mine subsidence and earthquake prone areas.
- High flow capacity – low friction compared with materials such as fibre reinforced cement and resistance to material deposit buildup give UHMWPE pipes long lived high flow capacity.
- Lower pumping cost due to greater hydraulic capacity as compared with steel and HDPE pipes.
- Ease of installation – UHMWPE is easy to install with light weights and flanged couplings.
Benefits of Ultra High MW
- UHMWPE by virtue of its extremely high molecular weight yields several unique properties, including the highest abrasion resistance and highest impact strength of any plastic. Beware of competitive products claiming to be UHMWPE as some techniques for processability of UHMWPE are not without an attendant disadvantage since effective amounts of intermediate molecular weight polyethylene causes a marked decrease in some of the most desirable properties of the UHMWPE, such as impact strength and abrasion resistance. The high molecular weight is what gives UHMW-PE a unique combination of high impact strength, low coefficient of friction and abrasion resistance that outwears carbon steel 10 to 1 making it more suitable for many applications where lower molecular weight grades fail. UHMWPE pipes can be used in a broad range of mining and industrial slurry applications due to its three main characteristics: high impact strength, outstanding abrasion resistance and extremely low coefficient of friction. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW) is a tough, abrasion-resistant thermoplastic with a molecular weight of greater than 3 million. UHMWPE pipes have reduced coefficient of friction, improved abrasion resistance, lower wear rates over conventional HDPE pipes such as PE100.
Exceptionally High Wear
- Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) shows unusually high wear resistance compared to most materials. This is due to a combination of very high molecular weight and the resulting entanglements and relative surface softness with a slippery waxy surface.
Bowl of Spaghetti
- An easy way to envisage UHMWPE is to think of a plate of cooked spaghetti with the long strands all intertwined. If the spaghetti is cut up, it would closely approximate the molecular appearance of regular HDPE. Since very long strands of spaghetti approximating the chains of UHMWPE are completely intertwined it would be very difficult to pull them apart. This simplification explains the outstanding abrasion resistance (the difficulty in pulling out particles of the polymer).
Pressure Rating
- The nominal diameter of the UHMWPE pipes is from 65mm to 800mm, and the wall thickness if from 8mm to 38mm usually. The nominal pressure rating of UHMWPE pipes etc. is from 0.6 MPa to 2.0 MPa and UHMWPE composite pipe can reach 6.4 MPa.
Performance Properties
UHMWPE pipes are ideal for the transport of powder and coal ash in thermal power system, backwater pipelines, the transport of mine tailings and slurry in the mining industry, the high-pressure transport of pulverized coal and coal-water slurry of coal preparation plant in the coal industry, as well as the transport of mud and corrosive media with slag in other industries.
UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) is 1/8 the weight of mild steel but is high in tensile strength. Also unlike steel, UHMWPE is an inexpensive alternative to metals and ceramics, and because it is self-lubricating, long-wearing, and resistant to abrasion, and corrosion.
UHMWPE is well suited for pipe applications that demand high abrasion resistance combined with low friction.
Advantages of Ultra PE Pipe Over Steel Pipe
40 times the abrasion resistance of steel (ref. Madsen)
8 times lighter than steel
5 times lower coefficient of friction than steel
The pressure loss of UHMWPE pipe is 1/10 of steel pipes and 1/7 of nylon pipes.
Benefits
UHMWPE pipes offer high wear and abrasion resistance, making them ideal for slurry pipe and dredging pipe.
The low friction of UHMWPE pipe enables solid particles to slide easily over the surface and avoids scaling and fouling.
The smooth interior surfaces of UHMWPE pipes assure low friction loss and high flow rate.
Applications
Key Applications
- UHMWPE pipe for dredging
- Slurry pipe
- Tailings pipe
- Coal mine pipe
- Wear resistance pipe
- Mud & sand dredging pipe
- Pipe for municipal sewage sludge dredging
Uses
- Mining Industry -UHMWPE pipes are used as transportation pipelines for mine slurry, tailings, sediments and ore concentrates.
- Coal power plants – UHMWPE pipes are used as pipelines for the transport of coal slurry, fly ash and the fly ash water slurry.
- Dredging Industry – UHMWPE pipes are used to transport mud and sand during dredging of rivers, habours, dams and lagoons.
- Construction Industry -UHMWPE pipes are used transporting the slurry of the mixed concretes and shotcretes from pump trucks as well as drilling sand/rocks from underground tunneling
- Ultra PE abrasion-resistant piping systems are manufactured to meet specific applications for operations moving highly abrasive materials, :Mining – mineral, phosphate and coal mining; feed, waste and debris lines; in-plant piping; tailing lines, backfill; waste disposal; slurry transport; raw ore streams; in-process streams; paste; shotcrete
- Product Conveyance – dilute and dense phase pneumatic movement operations for powder and bulk materials such as cement; coal combustion byproducts; slurry transport; biomass feedback; glass, frit and plastics; food products.
- Fossil Fuel Power Plants – FGD reagents (wet or dry); pulverized fuel; fly ash; bottom ash; economizer ash; coal combustion byproducts
- Mills and Foundries – in-plant piping; blow lines; storage; waste disposal; slag; sand lines.
Uses
Applications for UHMWPE pipes:
- transport mine tailings and slurry in the mining industry
- transport mud and sand for dredging
- transport powder and coal ash in thermal power system
- transport pulverized coal and coal-water slurry of coal preparation plant in the coal industry
Examples of Applications of UHMWPE Pipe
- Piping systems for coal-fired power plants for conveying of coal ash slurry to nearby settling ponds, transfer of limestone slurry to absorber spray towers for removal of SO2 and dilute hydrochloric acid from flue gases, and for transporting away the calcium sulfate by-product of the flue gas desulfurization process
- UHMWPE pipes can be used for limestone slurry which is used in flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, where it reacts with the flue gas thus removing the SO2. In the process, limestone slurry is converted into a calcium sulfate slurry. The waste products are then pumped from the bottom of the FGD spray towers through UHMWPE pipe for further treatment.
Wear Resistance
Abrasion Resistance
- Of all the pipe materials, UHMWPE pipes exhibit the smallest abrasion index. Of all the plastic pipes presently available, the anti-abrasion performance of UHMWPE is 18 times higher than phenolic polymers, 6 times higher than polyamide polymers (PA66), 5 times higher than poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) as well as being 6.6 times higher than carbon steel, 5.5 times higher than stainless steel and 27 times higher than copper, so Ultra™ UHMWPE pipes can profoundly increase the service lifespan of slurry pipes.
Advantages of UHMWPE Over Steel Pipes
- When abrasive materials are transported through steel pipe their effect on the inner pipe surface can be very damaging. Abrasive wear within these transportation systems occurs when hard particles are forced against or slide along the wall of the pipe. A loss of wall thickness is the result of the hard, sharp, angular edges producing a cutting or shearing action on the pipe wall. In more extreme cases, these effects can result in pipe leaks or failure, or significant maintenance costs and downtime for pipe replacement. Mild steel pipe is simply not abrasion resistant enough to stand up to the abuse for more than a year or two. Most abrasion-resistant pipe options operate on the premise that when two objects meet, the harder object’ wins’. To deal with this phenomenon, products are available in a variety of hardnesses, measured on the Brinell Scale, from A-R steel (200 BHN) through iron cast pipe (up to 800 BHN). Unfortunately, any product that is very hard throughout the wall thickness is also extremely brittle. Excessive brittleness is unacceptable, as piping systems are constantly flexing and moving as a result of pressure surges and spikes and due to mechanical and physical contact at a plant. However, one type of pipe can offer the best of both worlds: recently developed UHMWPE pipe exhibits extremely high abrasion resistance combined with good ductility and flexibility. Ultra PE Pipe will typically last two to four times as long as mild steel in high-wear slurry applications. The pipe can be cut and bent like regular polyethylene pipe and accepts standard end options of flanges, weld rings, and couplings.
Slurry Wear Resistance
Wear Resistance Table
Taber Abrasion Resistance
Low Friction
Low Coefficient of Friction
- UHMWPE has a very low coefficient of friction and is self-lubricating. Its coefficient of friction is significantly lower than that of nylon and polyacetal, and is comparable to that of PTFE (Teflon), but UHMWPE has better abrasion resistance than PTFE (Teflon).
Coefficient of Friction
Smooth Bore
- UHMWPE pipes have smooth interior surfaces which assure low friction loss and high flow rate. Because UHMWPE pipe do not rust, pit, scale, or corrode, the high flow rate continues for the life of the piping system.
Pipe Roughness UHMWPE pipes have a surface rough (k) value of 0.0010 (compared to other pipes below)
Mechanical Properties
Strong
- UHMWPE pipes are highly resilient, tough and durable products that have high-tensile and high-impact strength. They withstand high pressure for long periods.
Lightweight
- UHMWPE pipes are lightweight – approximately one-half the weight of aluminum and one-eighth the weight of steel – reducing transportation, handling, and installation costs. They have smooth seamless interior walls.
Key Benefits of UHMWPE Pipes
- Impact resistance: UHMWPE pipes have strong enduring capability to the impacts from various sands, mud and slurries.
- Corrosive resistance: With higher structure stability ,UHMWPE pipes are corrosive resistant to sea waters. No electro chemical corrosion, no need anti-corrosive coating.The internal roughness of UHMWPE pipe is only 0.0010 mm thus the pressure loss of UHMWPE pipe is about 1/10 of steel pipes resulting in an over 20% of increase in transfer efficiency.Since the internal wall of UHMWPE pipes is very smooth this practical prevents fouling or scale formation on the inner wall of the pipe and hence there is no drop in pumping efficiency. Light weight :The density of UHMWPE pipe is only 1/8 of steel pipe. It is easy to move and install, especially suitable for the working sites where lifting machines is not available. Easy connection: flanges are available to connect the pipes, No need washers
Chemical Resistance
Chemical Resistance
- Chemical and Corrosion Resistance
- With chemical resistance second only to PTFE (Teflon), UHMWPE pipe offers superior life to other pipeline products in chemically aggressive or corrosive applications under most operating conditions
- UHMWPE pipes can withstand 80% hydrochloric acid.
- UHMWPE is highly resistant to corrosive chemicals, with exception of oxidizing acids.
- UHMWPE pipes are inert to attack by a wide variety of strong acids, alkalis, salt solutions, alcohols, and many other chemicals. They are dependable in corrosive applications and impart no tastes or odors to materials carried in them.
Download Chemical resistance guide
Immunity to Galvanic or Electrolytic Attack
- UHMWPE pipes are immune to galvanic or electrolytic action. They can be used underground, underwater, in the presence of metals, and can be connected to metals.
Flexibility
Flexibility – UHMWPE pipes can be bent to a minimum of 30 times the pipe’s outside diameter. This flexibility and resiliency allows the pipe to absorb surge pressures, vibration and stresses caused by soil movement. This makes the pipes particularly useful in submarine pipe lines, mine subsidence and earthquake prone areas.
Thermal Properties
Thermal Properties
- UHMWPE pipes have lower thermal expansion properties than conventional HDPE pipes