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Abstract
Infrared welding has been used successfully for many years for joining plastics pipes in
industrial applications. In order to increase the productivity of this technique, a new
generation of machines has been developed that can reduce the weld cycle times by up to
45% compared with standard IR machines. This paper describes how a statistically
designed experimental programme has been used to assess the performance of these new
IR welding machine in the most cost-effective manner. Results have shown that low
temperature welding factors achieved are within 4% of the values obtained on standard IR
machines.
Introduction
For high purity liquid distribution systems, such as those found in the semiconductor,
pharmaceutical and chemical process industries, IR welding has a number of advantages
over traditional butt fusion (hot plate) welding for joining plastics pipes. These include:
With these advantages, IR welding has been used very successfully for joining industrial
piping systems made from polypropylene (PP) and polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) since its
introduction in the early 1990s [1] . However, as with all current pipe welding techniques, the
time to make the joint using the IR technique, although shorter than butt fusion welding,
was still an area for improvement. For this reason a new, completely controlled, IR system,
has recently been developed which reduces the fusion time by over 50% compared with
conventional butt fusion welding. This report details a study, carried out to evaluate the
consistency of mechanical properties of joints made using this new technique and compare
them to the properties of joints made on standard IR welding equipment.
For PP and PVDF, the MRTs have been established as 90°C and 70°C, respectively.
Of the above factors, the energy absorbed can be calculated, the MRT is defined, the wall
thickness can be measured, and the thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are
known. So, the only remaining variable that has an influence on the cooling time is the
environment. In the completely controlled IR welding technology, the temperature of the
environment is monitored, allowing the time to reach the MRT to be calculated.
IR welding machines
Two machines, incorporating the completely controlled IR welding technology, have been
developed: a small machine, for welding pipes with nominal outside diameters, dn, ranging
from 20mm to 63mm; and a large machine, for welding pipes of dn between 63mm and
225mm.
Small machine
This welding machine is fitted with a sensor for monitoring the temperature of the
environment. The time needed to reach the MRT was determined experimentally for each
pipe size and material when welding at different ambient temperatures (between 5 and
40°C). This information is programmed into the microprocessor in the welding machine, so
that it can then calculate the cooling time according to the measured ambient temperature.
Large machine
Since the pipes to be welded on this machine have thicker walls, and therefore longer weld
cycle times, two additional modifications were made to this equipment. Firstly, an infrared
sensor was installed to measure the temperature of the weld directly, and secondly, an
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external cooling fan was added to assist in reaching the MRT faster. A schematic of the
equipment is shown in Fig.1.
Fig.1. Schematic of large IR welding
machine
Experimental details
The objective of this study was to prove that the mechanical properties of the welds
produced on the new completely controlled IR welding machines are as good, and of the
same consistent quality, as those produced on standard IR machines, over the following
range of variables:
In order to do this in the most cost-effective manner, i.e. using the minimum number of
experimental trials, a Taguchi experimental design method was used. Since it was not
possible to compare forced cooling on both machines, and it was not relevant to directly
compare PP with PVDF, the welding trials were divided into four separate orthogonal
experimental arrays, as shown in Table 1.
Array
No. Description Variable Levels
C PP pipe on large machine Pipe/fitting diameter, 63, 90, 125, 160, 200, 225
mm
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Forced cooling On, Off
Each experimental array consisted of 36 (18 x 2) experimental runs. The reason for
replicating each experiment was to give a more accurate evaluation of the variability of the
process.
All welds were assessed using the low temperature tensile test, according to the draft CEN
standard, [2] except that the thickness of the specimen was taken as the minimum thickness
of the specimen either side of the weld, minus any wall offset. This was done to give a more
realistic value of the cross-sectional area at the weld, and therefore a better comparison of
the tensile strengths of the joints. The test specimen geometry is given in Fig.3. For all
specimens, the weld beads were left intact and the test temperature was -40°C.
dn L b1 b
20 160 10 5
25 160 12 6
32 160 12 6
40 160 12 6
50 160 12 6
63 160 12 6
75 160 14 7
90 160 14 7
110 160 14 7
125 180 16 8
140 180 16 8
160 180 16 8
200 180 18 9
225 180 20 10
Two test specimens were cut from each weld, one from the top of the weld and one from
the bottom. In addition, a number of specimens were cut from the parent pipes, in order to
calculate a low temperature tensile welding factor, f t, defined as:
PP
The results from the ANOVA calculations indicated that for the IR-63 Plus machine, none of
the factors, in the ranges studied, had a significant effect on the measured low temperature
tensile welding factor, f t. The predicted values of f t, from the ANOVA analysis, of welds
made on the IR-63 Plus machine are compared with the measured values from welds
made on the standard IR-63 machine in Table 2. This shows that, on average, the values
were 4% higher for the IR-63 Plus machine and almost identical to those of the parent pipe
material.
20 0.96 0.98
25 0.95 0.98
32 0.91 1.00
40 0.92 1.00
50 0.95 0.99
63 0.99 1.02
For the IR-225 Plus machine, the analysis suggested that both the pipe diameter and forced
cooling had a small but real effect on the average low temperature tensile welding factor.
The effect of forced cooling was to decrease the average welding factor by around 3%. For
the pipe diameter, as can be seen in Table 3, there appeared to be a steady decrease in
average welding factor of around 4% with increasing pipe diameter from 63mm to 160mm,
and then an increase for the larger pipe sizes. However, the overall values were, on
average, the same as for the IR-225 machine, showing properties equal to the parent pipe.
63 0.98 1.02
75 1.02 -
90 1.03 1.01
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110 1.02 -
140 1.03 -
The analysis also showed that the error due to repetitions was always less than the
experimental error, which indicates that the consistency of the welds produced on both
machines was very good.
PVDF
The results from the ANOVA analysis indicated that, for the IR-63 Plus machine, the pipe
diameter had a definite effect on the low temperature tensile welding factor, with the welds
in 20mm diameter pipes/fittings having a welding factor around 7% higher than for welds in
40mm or 63mm diameter pipes/fittings (see Table 4). They also showed that, as for the PP
pipes, the values for f t were, on average, 4% higher for the IR-63 Plus machine.
20 0.91 0.98
25 0.88 -
32 0.91 -
40 0.87 0.91
50 0.90 -
63 0.90 0.92
For the IR-225 Plus machine, the analysis suggested that both the pipe/fitting combination
and the ambient temperature had a definite effect on the low temperature tensile welding
factor. The effect of ambient temperature was to decrease the welding factor by around 5%
on going from 5°C to 40°C. The effect of pipe/fitting combination is given in Table 5 and
suggested that the values of f t for the pipe-to-fitting combinations were around 5% lower
than for pipe-to-pipe or fitting-to-fitting combinations.
Table 5 Values of average low temperature tensile welding factor for various
pipe/fitting combinations for PVDF pipes/fittings welded on a large, completely
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controlled, IR welding machine.
Fitting/fitting 0.85
The predicted values of f t from the ANOVA analysis of welds made in PVDF pipes on the
IR-225 Plus machine are compared with the measured values from welds made on the
standard IR-225 machine in Table 6. This shows that, on average, the values were 4%
lower for welds made on the IR-Plus machine.
63 0.90 0.84
90 0.89 -
110 0.85 -
125 0.90 -
160 0.88 -
200 0.88 -
The results also suggested that welding 63mm pipes/fittings on the IR-63 Plus machine
would be expected to produce joints with welding factors around 6% higher than if they
were welded on the IR-225 Plus machine. In addition, as for the welds made in PP pipes,
the analysis showed that the error due to repetitions was always less than the experimental
error, indicating good consistency in the quality of the welds.
Conclusions
The new IR Plus TM machines, developed by Georg Fischer, can reduce the overall welding
times by up to 45% compared with the standard IR welding machines, and by over 50%
compared with conventional butt fusion welding.
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A statistically designed set of experiments has been used to assess the performance of
these new machines in the most cost-effective manner, and has shown that the low
temperature welding factors achieved are within 4% of the values obtained on standard IR
welding equipment. In addition, the analysis has shown that the consistency of the welds is
well within the experimental error.
References
Taylor N S, Klaiber F and Wermelinger J: 'IR welding afforded promising future', TWI
Bulletin 4 July/August 1993 86-89.
PrEN 12814-6: 'Testing of welded joints of thermoplastics semi-finished products -
Part 6: Low temperature tensile test', 1999.
Mike Troughton graduated in Physics at the University of Leeds, and continued there to
obtain a PhD. He worked in industry for seven years before joining TWI in 1993. He works
in the Advanced Materials and Processes Department, where he is responsible for the
development of techniques for the welding of plastics and also for determining the
structural integrity of plastics welds.
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