process feature | Pipe joining Aegion buys Underground Solutions
US-based Aegion has acquired Under- ground Solutions – a manufacturer of fusible PVC technology for pipeline rehabilitation. Aegion says the deal, for $85 million, will help it to cement its position in the North American pipe rehabilitation market. Aegion expects the transaction to add
revenues of around $50m, and operating margins in excess of 10%. Several members of Underground Solutions’ senior management will join Aegion, to
form an expanded team dedicated to trenchless rehabilitation of existing pressure pipelines. “Our research suggests assembling a
portfolio of technologies is the right strategy to establish a leading position in the North American pressure pipe rehabilitation market,” said Charles Gordon, Aegion president and CEO. “We believe the combination of Underground Solutions’ patented PVC technologies with our Insituform and Tyfo/Fibrwrap tech-
cols; data input via keyboard or barcode scanner; welding monitoring of all important data; and, trace- ability according to ISO 12176-3/4.
NDT licensed UK-based Impact Solutions has licensed its NDT technology – for inspection of electrofusion fittings – to Canadian pipeline specialist Jana. Impact NDT – which will be known as JanaDetect in North America, is applied to electrofusion pipe fittings in PE pipelines. The licensing deal will see the equip- ment commercialised in North America. The technology has been demonstrated in field trials
over the past 12 months, with a number of UK water and gas authorities and large private contractors. It has shown itself capable of identifying welds in real time which would fail the expensive ISO or ASTM industry standard destructive tests, said the company. Impact NDT is currently available in the UK as an
NDT service for real-time EF joint assessment on site. The next stages of development will produce a ‘black box’ solution allowing instant assessment results to be returned to a minimally trained site operator via a red/ green traffic light system for use by utility companies and their contractors.
Jana, which specialises in performance validation and risk modelling for integrity management, says there is increasing demand for commercially viable NDT systems for electrofusion fittings in North America. Also, UK studies suggest that up to 20% of EF fittings fail before their expected service life due to poor welding technique, weld contamination and machinery issues. Impact currently offers an NDT quality inspection
service for critical pipeline installations in the UK, while Jana is working with North American gas companies where the JanaDetect will be tested and qualified in the coming months.
42 PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | June 2016
nologies will allow us to strengthen our position by offering a broader portfolio.” At the same time, Aegion is divesting its equity stake in Corrosion Protection’s Canadian pipe coating joint venture, as part of a plan to reduce annual operating expenses across the company. The company posted a loss of $8m in 2015, but this was a vast improvement on the $33m loss that it made in 2014. Sales for the period rose to nearly $212m, an increase of more than 20%.
Assessing processes Researchers at Chemnitz University in Germany have studied two joining processes – infrared (IR) and vibration (VIB) welding – in order to assess their suitability for series fabrication of pipes and other areas. The researchers studied the potential of these
techniques for long-term applications. Results show that minimum tensile creep welding factors of 0.8 are achieved using infrared (short-wave radiation emitter) and vibration welding processes. It was possible to obtain values that correspond to those of heated tool butt welding. Also, the knowledge base of the mecha- nism of failure behaviour of welded joints between plastics undergoing ESC was extended. Ronald Dietz, professor of plastics engineering at the
university, told delegates at the recent Antec confer- ence: “These techniques have economically viable and efficient process management, and are suitable for use in apparatus, tank and pipeline construction – but they cannot be applied to this field. One reason for this is the lack of knowledge and proof in relation to the Environ- mental Stress Cracking (ESC).” Long-term and creep investigations (such as
resistance against crack initiation and crack growth have been applied to establish the service and utilisa- tion lives of plastics in tank and pipeline construction for a long time. Attainable short welding factors are available for welding processes for semi-finished products and for series welding processes. However, tensile creep welding factors are only available for the conventional welding processes for semi-finished products. Existing guidelines relating to vibration welding do not deal with long-term evaluations, he said. “There are no parameters or test results for this purpose,” said the researchers. “Only the description of the tensile creep test is used.” In Germany, the DVS 2203-4 guideline is used as a
www.pipeandprofile.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54