What is Oriented PVC?
Oriented PVC or PVC-O is the latest advance in PVC pipe manufacture. By orienting the randomly arranged long chain polymer molecules significant improvements can be achieved in the mechanical properties of PVC. Orientation is achieved by controlled stretching and expansion of the PVC pipe. The result is a pipe with around twice the tensile strength as PVC-U with significantly better fatigue resistance, impact resistance and resistance to crack propagation. These improvements in mechanical properties allow the pipe wall to be thinner producing a larger bore for the same nominal diameter and pressure class. Therefore for the same DN over 10% improvement in hydraulic performance will be achieved compared to PVC-M pipe and even more so compared to PVC-U pipe.
