All About the Electrofusion And its Features You Must Know

Electrofusion is a method of joining MDPE, HDPE, and plastic pipes. The pipes are joined using fittings such as valves, tees, and elbows. The conventional fusion methods are butt, saddle, and socket. In this method, the pipes and pipe surfaces are heated up with heating equipment. The electrofusion is done by heating the pipes internally with a conductive polymer or conductor at the joints. When an electric current is passed the conductive material in the pipe gets heated up.

Electrofusion couplings are used when PE pipes are joined.

The fittings that are welded have fusion time mentioned on them through bar code. The electrical energy is supplied to heat the coil which expands the material adjacent to it. This expanded material and the pipe surface come into contact with each other. The melting of the surface of the pipes and the material mix cause a weld. The pipe is left to cool to strengthen the joint. The strength of the electrofusion is decided when the surfaces to be welded have good contact during and after the welding process.

There are usually two ways of performing welding – Electrofusion and butt welding.

The methods are used depending on the situation one is facing. Certain factors are considered to decide which method to apply. Access, pipe material, pipe size, and structure are basic things that are taken into account.

Electrofusion is a much simpler method and welding can be done in any situation. Also where there is little space, electrofusion is easy to perform. Pipe sizes ranging from 16 mm to 710 mm are perfect for electrofusion while pipe sizes from 50 mm to 2000 mm are suited for butt fusion. The installation cost in Electrofusion is very low as the welding tools required are light and cheap. The material used in Electrofusion varies in grades within the MDPE and HDPE. They are also used to join layers of pipes. Pipes with different wall thicknesses can be used while in butt fusion same thickness is recommended.

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