 Tank Industries' Cape Town Laboratory |
Polywater's Agent in South Africa, Tank Industries, took the extraordinary initiative to run their own series of tests on BonDuit Conduit Adhesive to validate our performance findings. They created excellent PowerPoint presentations on their Application Instructions and Testing Methods. They describe the process: "We intend to use BonDuit to connect PVC couplings to polyethylene high density pipes. This is to replace mechanical couplings that are too bulky. We undertook tests in April. The procedure to connect the pipes was followed as per the installation instruction provided in the kit. After three hours of curing, one of the coupling’s (32mm) pipes was placed under tension up to 100kg (220 lbs) and the PE pipes did not pull out of the coupling. We drilled a hole through one pipe and connected a bolt and chain to it. The other side we connected to a metal sock. After one hour of pulling at 100kg the pipe itself started to give at the drilled hole, but there was no movement at the BonDuit seal. The pipe was left under tension almost five days. There was no pulling away from the PVC coupling. The pressure did drop down to 75kg (165 lbs), however this was due to stretching of the PE pipe at the drilled hole. Temperatures ranged between 22°C to 25°C (71°F to 77°F)." Tank did recognize a downside in that the adhesive was hardening faster than desired for their application. BonDuit Curing Time is affected by ambient temperature; it's slower in the cold and faster in the heat. One way to mitigate this is to control the temperature of the cartridges up to the time of use. Keeping BonDuit in a small cooler before use helps on hot days when the adhesive cures too quickly. Keeping it in a pants pocket or a warm vehicle helps in the cold. Many thanks to Tank Industries for their efforts! Learn more about Tank Industries at http://www.tank.co.za. |
