Vitrified clay pipes are made by exposing dried clay to high temperatures, making them hard and inert. They have excellent chemical resistance and are ideal for sewage systems, trenchless pipe installations, and other processes. They have a predicted service life of over 100 years and are less prone to compression failure and more rigid than traditional pipe types. They are also ideal for pipe lifting and other processes. Manufacturers claim a 200-year expected service cycle with a reasonable life expectancy of at least 100 years, far exceeding steel or resin-based tubing.
Vitrified clay pipe (VCP) is a variant of pipe made from clay that has undergone a vitrification process. This process involves exposing the dried clay pipe to extremely high temperatures, making it exceptionally hard and almost totally inert. These clay pipes are commonly used in sewage systems due to their outstanding working qualities. These include excellent chemical resistance, compressive strength and stiffness, which improve product life and make them ideal for other processes such as trenchless pipe installations. In fact, many modern fired clay pipe products have predicted a service life in excess of 100 years.
Vitrification has long been a method of bringing out the excellent intrinsic characteristics of clay objects. The process involves heating the clay article to temperatures on the order of 2,000° Fahrenheit (1,093° Celsius). This serves to melt the clay particles into a glass-like state, which is extremely hard and inert. In the case of VCP, the pipe sections are first extruded and dried before firing. The resulting products are extremely robust and exhibit exceptional longevity in most applications, as well as being among the cheapest tube types to produce.
These characteristics make the pipes an ideal solution for sewer lines, which are one of the most aggressive pipe system environments. Vitrified clay pipe products used in underground applications are less prone to compression failure and more rigid than other traditional pipe types. They also have excellent resistance to chemical attack, in particular to the sulfuric acid present in most sewage networks.
The inherent strengths of VCP make the products an ideal choice for processes such as pipe lifting as well. In this process, the fired clay pipe is installed in a trenchless process that involves lifting sections of pipe through the ground without any of the disruptive excavation associated with traditional pipe installation methods. The products are also ideal for use in other processes such as slurry microtunneling, static pipe blasting and pilot pipe microtunneling.
The outstanding processing properties of vitrified clay pipe products give them some of the best expected longevity values of all pipe types. Some manufacturers claim 200-year expected service cycles with the US Army Corps of Engineers, giving products a reasonable life expectancy of at least 100 years. These figures far exceed those of steel or resin-based tubing used in similar applications.
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