Industrial Plastics

KEMA provides consultancy, inspections, quality control and laboratory analysis for all kinds of industrial, glass-fiber reinforced (GRP) plastics

Plastics are increasingly finding their way into a variety of industrial applications. Not only because of the application possibilities, but also because of environmental legislation and low maintenance costs.

Glass-fiber reinforced plastics
Fiber-reinforced plastics have a number of advantages in comparison with traditional construction materials like steel and concrete: a better weight/strength ratio and greater corrosion resistance. The application of fiber-reinforced plastics in piping systems enables reduction of the total service life cost as compared with traditional tubing systems. Moreover, GRP is highly fire-resistant and can be used for a variety of applications, underground as well as above.
- firewater systems
- drinking water systems
- cooling, process, sewage and waste water systems
- gas systems
- storage tanks
- windmill blades
- asbestos replacing applications like gaskets.

Laboratory and test facilities
You want absolute certainty about the quality of your products. Do your materials comply with the requirements? Or maybe you need to find out why certain problems occur in the use of your products. KEMA has all the experts and laboratories needed to answer your questions. Our laboratory and test facilities cover:

Standard tests for GRP piping:
- low speed loading
- ultimate elastic wall stress (UEWS)
- resistance to internal pressure (NEN-EN 1447)
- chemical resistance inside a deformed pipe (EN 1120).

Mechanical analyses to determine material properties:
- compressive strength
- bending properties
- creep
- impact strength
- adhesive strength
- erosion and wear.

Thermal analysis plotting material properties as a function of time or temperature.
- explosion hazard
- crystallinity
- curing profile
- thermal oxidative stability
- degradation profile
- thermal expansion
- softening point
- degree of cross-linking
- melt-flow index
- heat capacity
- melting temperature and melting energy
- heat transmission.

Other laboratory and field services:
- non-destructive testing
- fire tests
- inspections
- failure analysis
- expert opinion.