Composite Pipe Long Term Testing Facility Commissioned

Haydale Composite Solutions Ltd. (UK) has commissioned a composite pipe testing facility with the support of Leicester City Council, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP)**, the Regional Growth Fund and European Regional Development Fund .

The new facility for long term testing consists of 8 independently controlled tanks which can carry out short and long term pressure testing of composite pipes up to 500bar and at temperatures up to 80°C. The facility is very versatile and can conduct short term burst pressure (STBP) tests, determine long term hydrostatic pressure  (LTHP) rating as well as performing dynamic, fatigue and cyclic testing of composite pipes to a wide range of international standards including API 15S, ISO 14692 and ASTM D2992.

Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS) have been very active in the design, development, testing and certification of reinforced thermoplastic and thermosetting composite pipes for the oil and gas industry for many years.  This facility will enable HCS to accelerate the development and approval of new materials and designs that can be used in the construction of oil and gas pipelines. HCS are currently developing new graphene-enhanced polymer materials for use in pipeline construction and this facility will assist greatly in the testing, approval and certification of these novel materials.

Nigel Finney, HCS Commercial Director said "Successful commissioning of this facility is a major step towards delivering our new range of thermoplastic pipes. The generation of long term (10,000 hours) test data is vital in obtaining approval for the use of new materials in oil and gas pipeline systems. This facility enables us to simultaneously test a range of materials and designs, thereby enabling us to quickly optimise such products before performing full 10,000-hour hydrostatic test certification".

Gerry Boyce, Managing Director of HCS added " We see a wide range of benefits in utilising graphene enhanced polymers for oil and gas pipeline systems, including improved strength, stiffness and toughness, increased permeation resistance and enhanced fatigue performance. We can quantify these benefits through the use of this test facility which will lead to customers having access to graphene-enhanced composite pipelines with improved performance and lower cost.  We are therefore optimistic about sales of our HDPlas functionalised graphene polymers into the oil and gas pipeline industry ".

**  This project has been supported by a £261K Regional Growth Fund grant through the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (www.llep.org.uk)