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From pellet to pipe, step by step.

Twelve stations, from raw HDPE pellets to marked, tested pipe ready for dispatch. Scroll to walk the line.

  1. 01Raw HDPE pellets
  2. 02Storage and feeding
  3. 03Gravimetric dosing
  4. 04Extrusion
  5. 05Pipe die and stripe
  6. 06Vacuum calibration
  7. 07Water cooling
  8. 08Dimension inspection
  9. 09Caterpillar haul-off
  10. 10Printing and cutting
  11. 11Coiling or stacking
  12. 12Quality and packaging
  1. Raw HDPE pellets: PE 100 and PE 80 pipe-grade resin in pellet form; Delivered in big bags and kept dry; Blue masterbatch held separately for the stripes.
  2. Storage and feeding: Resin held in a closed silo; Vacuum conveying to the line, with no open handling; A loader keeps the hopper above the extruder full.
  3. Gravimetric dosing: Resin and additives metered by weight on load cells; Recipe set per grade; Feed rate matched to the extruder output.
  4. Extrusion: Single-screw extruder with separately controlled heating zones; Pellets melted and homogenised under a set temperature profile; Steady melt pressure to the die.
  5. Pipe die and stripe: The die head forms the melt into a tube; A co-extruder adds the blue identification stripes; Die tooling sized to the pipe ordered.
  6. Vacuum calibration: The hot tube is drawn against a calibration sleeve under vacuum; Sets the outside diameter and roundness; Water cooling starts inside the tank.
  7. Water cooling: Spray tanks cool the pipe from the outside; The wall cools evenly, which limits residual stress; Tank length set by wall thickness and line speed.
  8. Dimension inspection: An ultrasonic ring gauge measures diameter and wall thickness around the pipe; Results go back to the line to correct extruder output and haul-off speed; Pipe outside tolerance is marked.
  9. Caterpillar haul-off: Rubber-padded tracks grip the pipe and pull it through the line; Pull speed and extruder output together set the wall thickness; A steady pull keeps the dimensions constant.
  10. Printing and cutting: Inkjet marking: maker, material, standard, size and pressure class; A saw travels with the pipe for a square cut; Lengths cut to order, straight lengths up to 12 m.
  11. Coiling or stacking: Small diameters wound into coils of up to 100 m; Larger diameters tipped on to the rack as straight lengths; Pipes from 16 mm to 1,200 mm in outside diameter.
  12. Quality and packaging: Dimensions, appearance and marking checked against the standard; Hydrostatic pressure, melt flow and density tests in the lab; Coils banded and wrapped, lengths strapped in bundles for dispatch.

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