Crosslinked Polyethylene (PEX) – Polymer thermoplastic, produced by polymerization. Thanks to technology of molecular cross-linking was possible to use plastic pipe pressure systems in hot and cold water, and heating. Statistics of exploitation pipes XLPE absent. It is estimated lifetime of such pipes is about 50 years to 30 years of cold and hot water supply, which is approximately 3-4 times higher than that of steel. As a rule, offered a small range of pipe diameter – 12-32 mm.
Thanks to the good physical properties: high temperature resistance, high resistance to pressure and physical stress, stability to UV radiation and corrosive chemical environments, cross-linked polyethylene tubing are increasingly replacing metal pipes of the standard circuits internal wiring. The disadvantage of such pipes in the first place include the high linear expansion (extension tubes), which excludes the use of mounting an open connector.
PEX Tubing released OxyPEX (Canada), Everhot (USA), BOW (Canada), «Rehau» (Germany), «Wirsbo» (Sweden), «Purmo» (Finland), «Wavin» (Denmark), «Kan-Therm» (Poland) etc.
There are several methods of structuring the pipes, so there are different designations of pipes:
- PEX c – tubing structured flow of electrons;
- PEX b – chemically structured tubes with the use of silicon;
- PEX a – chemically structured tubes with hydrogen peroxide;
- PERT – tubes of heat-resistant polyethylene, obtained by copolymerization.