ASTM International Committee F17 on Plastic Piping Systems has recently approved a new standard based on two important documents originally developed by the Plastics Pipe Institute in the mid-1990s. The new ASTM standard, F 2620, Practice for Heat Fusion Joining of Polyethylene Pipe and Fittings, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee F17.20 on Joining.
 
According to Jim Craig, industry relations manager, McElroy Manufacturing, and chairman of Subcommittee F17.20, the origin of F 2620 goes back to a 1990 Plastics Pipe Institute meeting. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation attended this meeting and requested that PPI develop either a book that would include all of the fusion procedures used by different pipe manufacturers or create one procedure to be used by all the manufacturers. Craig chaired a PPI task group made up of pipe, fitting, equipment and resin manufacturers and decided that the second option suggested by DOT—creating one procedure that all manufacturers would follow—was the path to pursue.
 
The work of the PPI task group led to the development of PPI Technical Report 33, Generic Butt Fusion Joining Procedure for Field Joining of Polyethylene, followed by TR-41, Generic Saddle Fusion Joining Procedure for Polyethylene Gas Piping.
 
“These technical reports had the approval of almost all of the pipe manufacturers in North America,” says Craig. “For the past 12 to 14 years, they have been the standard in the polyethylene industry and have been adopted by many utilities and municipalities.”
 
Because the technical reports have been so widely accepted, Subcommittee F17.20 decided the reports could serve as the basis for a new ASTM standard, which became F 2620. In addition to the information on butt and saddle fusion that had been the subjects of the PPI technical reports, F 2620 also includes procedures for socket fusion.
 
ASTM International standards are available for purchase from Customer Service (610/832-9585; https://www.astm.org/contact/) or at www.astm.org.  For technical information, contact Jim Craig, McElroy Manufacturing Inc., Tulsa, Okla. (phone: 918/836-8611, ext. 0263; jcraig@mcelroy.com). Committee F17 meets April 16-19 at the April Committee Week in Norfolk, Va. For membership or meeting information, contact Robert Morgan, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9732; rmorgan@astm.org).

Release #4654