Quality Assurance of Heat-Fused Butt-Welded Plastic Joints

摘要

The ultimate objective of this project is to develop a simple and reliable field-grade instrument for nondestructively determining the quality of heat-fused, butt joints in polyethylene pipe. The objective for 1981 has been to investigate in a proof-of-principle manner an ultrasonic-based, non-destructive examination method for detecting the presence of voids and inclusions, absence of bond, and inadequate fusion in heat-fused, butt-joints in a 4-inch-diameter polyethylene gas distribution pipe. The program was successful in that it demonstrated the capability of the ultlrasonic pulse-echo concept to detect voids, inclusions, lack of bond, and incomplete fusion.