Two-month resin adds flexibility to steam-cured lining

Two-month resin adds  flexibility to steam-cured lining

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Formadrain Inc.’s new epoxy resin features a two-month shelf life that adds flexibility to trenchless pipelining repairs. The process features Durapox technology that keeps the resin in a pre-cured state for up to eight weeks until steam is applied during the installation process. The epoxy contains no styrene-based polyester resins and fully cures in 60 minutes.

The extended shelf life widens the window for pipelining repairs, says Carl Marc-Aurele, process engineer for Formadrain. “Most of the steam-cured resins available now, once you mix both parts of the chemical, have a pot life of one to four hours,” he says. “What that means is once you mix the chemicals, you only have one to four hours to prepare the liner, put it over the batter, put it over the bladder, put it in the ground and cure it. That’s a rough process, and sometimes it can harden on you before it’s in the pipe. In some ambient cure processes you have even less than an hour to do all this work.”

The longer shelf life enables the contractor to have linings prepared up to a week in advance. “We’re able to mix it, put it in a pail and ship it. There’s no more weight ratio, thus less chance of mistakes,” Marc-Aurele says.

While some ultraviolet lining systems might match or exceed Formadrain’s two-month shelf life, these systems can be more expensive and/or emit volatile chemicals and odors that might not be suitable for various applications, Marc-Aurele says. “Epoxy resins do not have volatile compounds in them; they’re odorless.”

Being able to order fully prepared assemblies of any length of liner in advance also enables contractors to make repairs that might not have been previously possible for smaller contractors.

“Let’s say you need to do a 100-foot repair,” Marc-Aurele says. “You need 100 feet of liner to lay flat. Not every contractor has that much space, be we’re set up for that at the shop.”

The pre-wetted liner can be used in the repair of both laterals and mains from 4 to 48 inches in diameter. It also can be used to repair tees and wyes. 888/337-6764; www.formadrain.com.



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