Application of Nanomaterials in the Production of Multilayer Electrically Conductive and Heat-Resistant Polymer Pipes

It is known that cable channels, often consisting of multilayer polymer pipes, are used to protect cable lines. Taking into account the fact that cables are heated during operation, important criteria for the reliability of the cable channel are increased heat resistance and flame resistance - for the inner layer of the pipe. Even the most reliable system cannot completely eliminate the possibility of cable damage up to a short circuit in the line. In case of cable breakage, bare wires will be located on the wall of the polymer pipe. In this case, finding the place of cable breakage through the wall of a pipe traditionally made of HDPE dielectric is extremely difficult. When choosing a cable channel of a special design made of special electrically conductive PCM, even in case of damage to the conductive line, it will be possible not only to avoid further destruction, but also to determine the breakdown location. In the assortment of POLYPLASTIC Group there are fundamentally new technical, technological and constructive solutions of current-seeking pipes for cable channels produced under the trademark ELECTROPIPE OS RS OMP, which allows you to determine the place of cable breakdown with an accuracy of up to 12 m. The paper presents a comparative study of multilayer polymer pipes of the ELECTROPIPE RS series, ELECTROPIPE OS RS with an internal refractory layer and ELECTROPIPE OS RS OMP with an internal electrically conductive layer based on a special refractory composition and carbon nanotube concentrate (CNTC). The content of CNTC is 5–10 wt %. All tests were carried out on real pipe samples. The physicomechanical (tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and elongation) and electrophysical characteristics (insulation resistance), as well as resistance to flame (exposure to hot wire, a test for flammability according to the ROSSETI method) were investigated.