Determination of essential parameters influencing service life time of polyurethane insulation in district heating pipes

Pre-insulated district heating pipes (DHP) have been in use during the last forty years. Many improvements and development have been done in the system. However, life-time prediction is still an uncertain issue. This paper is a part of a bigger project with the objective to determine mechanisms related to the deterioration of the mechanical and insulation properties of pre-insulated heating pipes as a result of ageing. The focus in this project is on degradation mechanisms of the PUR material at high temperatures. In this paper some results of the two types of exposure are presented. The first type comprises a condition where the new pipes are subjected to accelerated ageing at three different temperatures. The second type comprises condition, when the PUR material itself is aged in different atmospheres in order to identify different degradation mechanisms. The chosen ageing temperatures in the first condition were 130°C, (close to the supply temperature), 150°C and 170°C, (accelerated ageing temperature in EN 253 [1]). Changes in thermal insulation and the adhesion force between the PUR and the steel pipe were evaluated using the transient plane source (TPS) technique and the SP plug method respectively. The results of ageing show that the degradation of PUR is a multi-stage process composed of a rapid change in properties followed by a plateau phase which changes later to a gradual deterioration of the properties. The results of the PUR material exposure at 150°C in air and in nitrogen showed significant differences in the degradation characteristics between the two environments as were revealed by DSC and FTIR methods.