Heat Shrink Tube for U-Bolt Coating - Pipe Support Corrosion Protection

About Heat Shrink Tube for U-Bolt Coating - Pipe Support Corrosion Protection

Process pipes in refineries, chemical plants and offshore platforms rest on beam supports and are held down with U-bolts. Where a bare U-bolt presses on the pipe, moisture collects and the contact point corrodes; support-point corrosion of this kind is a leading cause of process-pipe failure and eventually of pinhole leaks.

Gala's Heat Shrink Polyolefin Tube for U-Bolt Coating is a cross-linked polyolefin tube that is shrunk over the curved part of the U-bolt before it is fitted. The result is a smooth, wrinkle-free coating that separates the steel bolt from the pipe. It is hard enough to protect the pipe's paint as the bolt is torqued down, yet elastic enough to follow the bolt's contour without splitting, and it does not leave a capillary crevice around the pipe where water could sit. Gala states high impact, abrasion and tear resistance and good strain relief.

Installation is done in a workshop: clean and degrease the U-bolt, slip the tube over the curved section, shrink it in a pre-warmed oven at 140 to 180 deg C, and let it cool before use. Ten sizes run from GMWR 10/3 to GMWR 50/16, with recovered walls of 1.5 to 2.7 mm; choose the size whose first figure passes over the bolt and whose second figure is below the bolt diameter.

The product is the coating tube only. U-bolts are supplied by others or coated by the user.

Manufactured by Gala in India. Datasheet and size selection on request.

Specifications

• Brand: Gala
• Product type: Heat shrink coating tube for U-bolts (tube only, not a U-bolt)
• Material: Cross-linked polyolefin
• Colour: Black
• Operating temperature: -55 deg C to +110 deg C continuous
• Size range: 10 mm to 50 mm supplied ID; 3 mm to 16 mm recovered ID
• Wall type / thickness: 1.5 mm to 2.7 mm after recovery (+/-10%)
• Standards tested to: Test methods quoted on Gala's datasheet - ASTM D638, ASTM D2671, ASTM D570, ASTM D149, ASTM D257, ASTM D150
• Application: Corrosion and mechanical protection at U-bolt to pipe contact points on pipe supports
• Installation: Slip over the cleaned U-bolt, shrink in a pre-warmed oven at 140 to 180 deg C, cool
• Country of origin: India
• Tensile strength: 12 N/mm2 min (ASTM D638)
• Elongation at break: 350% min
• Water absorption: 0.5% max
• Thermal ageing: after 120 deg C for 500 h, tensile 11 N/mm2 min and elongation 300% min
• Heat shock: 250 deg C for 30 min, no cracking or flowing
• Dielectric strength: 12 kV/mm min (ASTM D149)
• Volume resistivity: 1 x 10¹⁴ ohm.cm min (ASTM D257)
• Dielectric constant: 5 max

Sizes

• GMWR 10/3 | D 10 / d 3 | T 1.5
• GMWR 12/4 | D 12 / d 4 | T 1.8
• GMWR 16/6 | D 16 / d 6 | T 2.0
• GMWR 19/6 | D 19 / d 6 | T 2.0
• GMWR 22/6 | D 22 / d 6 | T 2.3
• GMWR 27/8 | D 27 / d 8 | T 2.5
• GMWR 30/8 | D 30 / d 8 | T 2.6
• GMWR 33/10 | D 33 / d 10 | T 2.6
• GMWR 40/12 | D 40 / d 12 | T 2.7
• GMWR 50/16 | D 50 / d 16 | T 2.7

Applications: Oil refineries, petrochemical and chemical plants, offshore platforms, marine, oil and gas utilities, power plants and industrial piping, pipe-support fabricators