SIMULATION OF PREHEATING AND HEATING WHEN CONNECTING POLYETHYLENE PIPES WITH ELECTROFUSION COUPLINGS

Existing machines for electrofusion welding of polyethylene pipes provide a high-quality connection at air temperatures no lower than minus 10 °C. However, if welding is required at lower temperatures, a layer of heat-insulating material is used to reduce the cooling rate. This insulation is selected based on the air temperature and the size of the welded pipes. This paper investigates the dynamics of temperature fields at the stages of heating, temperature equalization and heating using a new technology of welding at low temperatures. The proposed technology eliminates the use of thermal insulation material and allows welding to be carried out automatically.The paper presents a mathematical model that describes the thermal process when performing all welding operations at low temperatures. The model describes the thermal process with and without phase transformation. The well-known method of end-to-end calculation with the introduction of effective heat capacity is used to consider the heat of phase transition in the temperature range. The model also considers the dependence of the thermophysical properties of polyethylene on the degree of crystallinity.The following text presents the results of preheating and temperature equalization calculations for welding polyethylene pipes of the PE 100 SDR 11 brand with a diameter of 160 mm at an air temperature of minus 40 °C. To accurately describe the thermal process of real welding, experimental temperature data was used for parametric identification. It is shown that as a result of preheating and temperature equalization in the weld and thermally affected zones and outside them at a distance of more than 10 mm, the temperature values do not exceed acceptable limits. The resulting temperature distribution allows heating according to the standard welding mode. Calculations show that when the heating is completed, the volume of the polyethylene melt corresponds to the volume of the welding melt at the allowed air temperature.These findings can be used to develop a technique for controlling the movement of the crystallization front during welding at low temperatures.