The high-speed line is designed for low-volume producers of cross-linked PE pipe

The high-speed line is designed for low-volume producers of cross-linked PE pipe

Swiss extrusion machinery manufacturer Maillefer has developed a high-speed line aimed at low-volume producers of cross-linked PE pipe. The company showed a PEX-a pipe line, incorporating an inline infrared cross-linking unit, at a seminar at the company’s headquarters in Ecublens this week. A 16mm-diameter pipe with 2mm wall thickness was produced at a rate of 15 metres a minute.

Maillefer said it can for the first time offer complete PEX-a lines incorporating the IR cross-linking unit, making it easier for lower volume pipe producers to start using the technology. Also, only small quantities of peroxide and antioxidant need to be added to the polyethylene at the extruder.

Maillefer believed its new PEX-a line “promises to be as big as Monosil”, the one-step PEX-b system introduced by Maillefer in 1974. A Monosil system was shown running with a 20mm diameter, 2mm wall thickness pipe at 25 metres a minute.