- Author
- Daigle, L. | Zhao, J. Q. | Beaulieu, D.
- Title
- Innovative Approach to Testing the Quality of Fusion Joints.
- Coporate
- National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Journal
- Plastics, Rubber and Composites, Vol. 32, No. 8/9, 385-395, October 2003
- Report
- NRCC-46267
- Keywords
- fusion joints | butt fusion | pipes | contamination | tensile energy | polyethylenes | failure modes
- Identifiers
- polyethylene (HDPE) pipe joints; tensile energy to break (TEB) values; observed dust accumulation on welding surfaces; fracture surfaces of contaminated joints; comparison of joining quality of joint and bead specimens; welding parameters for butt fused joints; mean yield stresses and TEB values of joint and bead specimens; statistical tests (at 95% confidence level) on the effect of parameters; Example quality criterion using quality parameter
- Abstract
- The exterior beads formed during a butt fusion process were used for non-destructive testing of the quality of butt-fused HDPE pipe joints. This innovative concept was tested using a dimensionless quality parameter that is based on tensile energy to break (TEB) values obtained from tensile testing of both the bead and joint specimens. The results show an r2 of 0.87 for a linear regression between these two sets of specimens, which supports the hypothesis that the external bead squeezed out of a butt-fused joint can be used to test the quality of the joint itself. Statistical analysis was carried out to determine the effects of other tested parameters. Furthermore, four distinct failure modes have been identified and a quality test protocol using the quality parameter is proposed.