Piping systems made from thermoplastic materials or glass-reinforced thermosetting plastics are used mainly for water and gas transport. They are subject to high quality and certification levels.

Therefore, a large number of international and national standards which specify the testing requirements are available.

Both the characteristics of the plastics and those of the finished pipe have to be tested. Typical test methods covered by Zwick equipment are set out below:


* Tensile properties
* Melt mass-flow rate for thermoplastic materials
* Ring stiffness
* Ring flexibility
* Initial specific ring stiffness
* Resistance to initial ring deflection
* Apparent initial circumferential tensile strength
* Impact characteristics


Ring Stiffness and Ring Flexibility

With its allround machines, Zwick covers the entire range of frame capacities for small-sized pipes up to the largest current sizes. The frames can be equipped with two workspaces: one for the tensile tests on dumbbell specimen, the other for compression tests to determine the ring stiffness.

The advantage of two test areas is the ease of use. The tools for both tests remain in the machine, no changes necessary.

Additionally, testXpert® standard test programs make the task of the operator simple and reliable. All results of these tests are automatically calculated.

For corrugated pipes, a long-stroke extensometer measuring the deformations at the inner wall surface of the pipe is available.