CO2 reduction and cost savings through physically foamed cable protection tubes
Winterthur, Switzerland, 29 March 2022 – Plastic pipes for protecting cables in the ground are available in a wide variety of diameters and wall thicknesses. One thing is the same in all cases: the cables inside the pipe are to be protected from environmental influences and damage. To ensure this, appropriate standards must be met that clearly specify the properties of the conduit.
Among other things, these standards specify the diameter/wall thickness ratio, which fixes the amount of material per running meter of pipe. To save costs, recyclates or B-goods are often used, whose property profile and processing characteristics are highly dependent on the batch.
Saving costs by using environmentally friendly gases Another approach to reducing costs and plastic consumption is to physically foam the pipes. Here, environmentally friendly gases such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen are injected into the plastic and mixed with it in the extruder. In the subsequent pipe extrusion process, these gases form a fine-pored foam that leads to weight reduction and thus to savings in plastic.