SOLVAY PVC : the long term building material Joël Fumire Research & Technology SBU Vinyls São Paulo, 2005

SOLVAY PVC in building PVC is one of the most used plastics in building Why ?

SOLVAY PVC in building Building means … … Strength, see the rigidity modulus ! … weather resistance in all climates … well adapted to specific use (e.g. pipes) … Durability from 30 to > 100 years … competitive cost ! … recyclable

SOLVAY Comparison E Modulus

SOLVAY Rigidity in Sewage K ey property : annular stiffness. Directly related to the E-modulus of the material : Stiffness : SN = K. E. I / D 3

SOLVAY Good Weathering resistance UV-resistance : PVC can be formulated easily to be used on a long term basis in very sunny climates

SOLVAY PVC adapted for use : drinking water pipes Key properties : Pressure resistance No modification of the water quality Long term durability

SOLVAY PVC adapted for drinking water pipes Key property : long term pressure resistance PVC-U PE y.

SOLVAY PVC adapted for drinking water pipes No modification of water quality : No significant leaching of substances to the water No taste or smell transferred to water  PVC pipes comply with the requests of drinking water contact in the most severe regulations (CEE, NSF, BGVV, etc…) Excellent resistance to bacteria growth  PVC is approved for drinking water transportation in the majority of countries

SOLVAY Other key properties for PVC pipes Chemical inertia towards many chemicals :  Cleaning liquids, acids,  No sensitivity towards oxidising substances Good Fire resistance  Among plastics, PVC is one of the most difficult to ignite.  It is self-extinguishing

SOLVAY PVC pressure pipes are in use since more than 60 years PVC pressure pipes are designed theoretically for 50 years but can last more than 100 years PVC Window profiles are used since more than 40 years and are still performing well Durability

SOLVAY Pressure pipes 60 years old – Dr Nowack study Study realised in Germany : published in KRV (1995) by Dr. Nowack PVC pipes were produced and installed in Bitterfeld in with the technology available at that moment (physical, chemical) Pipes from 1938 extracted from Bitterfeld

SOLVAY Pressure pipes 60 years old – Dr Nowack study Tests on these pipes show that :  Burst-pressure curve is still linear with no "knee"  Burst-pressure at 60°C is found still > 5 N/mm² after 600 h Some of the pipes are still operating today at 20°C under 5.0 bar with satisfactory performance

SOLVAY TNO study on residual lifetime of PVC pipes Are 50 years old pipes to be replaced ? Study was realised between 2002 and 2005 by the Dutch institute TNO Science and Industry (A. Boersma & J. Breen) Water pipes from the 1950's until today were excavated and extensively tested :

SOLVAY TNO study on residual lifetime of PVC pipes Physico-chemical analysis :  The K values were close to 66 (1 exception at 72)  The level of gelation was between 38% and 80% (the pipes from the 1970's showed the lowest gelation)  Analysis of the transformation of the stabiliser system indicates negligible consumption (at room temperature)

SOLVAY TNO study on residual lifetime of PVC pipes Mechanical testing :  Craze initiation is affected by the physical ageing and by fatigue phenomenon  Burst pressures are still at a good level (and still compliant to ISO standard)

SOLVAY TNO study on residual lifetime of PVC pipes Main conclusions of this study are :  No chemical degradation appears  Gelation : seems to be correlated with craze initiation  Fatigue could lead to an increased mechanical ageing  Production and laying conditions induce additional stresses in the material The lifetime can be expected to be 100 years or more for high quality produced and installed pipes.

SOLVAY Window frames since the 1970's Window frames are installed since the 1960's  This window was installed in Germany in1972  and is still in operation after more than 30 years of good operation! Usually PVC frames are not replaced because of damage

SOLVAY Competitive price : costs of piping systems (installation and assembling) DN 100 DN 150 DN 200 PVC-U PE SteelCast Iron PVC-U PE Steel Cast Iron PVC-U PE Steel Cast Iron Source : DVGW 1998

SOLVAY Recycling Today in Europe > t/y of PVC is recycled in pipes For homogeneous rigid PVC, recycling is mainly a collecting process For composite material (or heavily contaminated PVC) a special separation process has been developped :

SOLVAY Recycling PVC material can be extruded several times The problem is the availability of recycled material since the articles installed in the 1970's are not available for recycling !

Thank you for your attention !