Detlef Schramm and Amaia Bastero

Given that Dow's plastics business is well known for its "experts with answers," we thought we would ask Detlef Schramm, Application Technology Leader for Pipes and Geomembranes for Dow Europe GmbH (based in Horgen, Switzerland), and Dr. Amaia Bastero, Technical Services & Development engineer for Pipes (based in Tarragona, Spain), about key trends in the European pipes industry for 2010.  If you would like to ask our experts a question for inclusion in a future edition of Pipes Insights, please write to Detlef at askdetlef@dow.com.

What is the overall outlook for the European pipes industry in 2010?
The plastic pipes industry in Europe should continue to see volume growth in 2010 as plastic continues to replace metal in many domestic pipe applications, principally driven by regulatory conditions, cost, and performance. We anticipate that the growth will be steady but not fast.

Which applications will see the greatest growth in 2010?
Industrial pipe applications in particular should see stronger growth rates next year. This is because material science advances are now positioning plastic pipes to compete with metal pipes in industrial applications that have more stringent criteria, such as those requiring high temperature-resistance.  Two industrial pipe applications that should see growth in 2010 are reinforced pipes and large diameter PE-RT pipes, the latter of which have the advantage of being weldable because they are not cross-linked.

What about growth opportunities for applications that combine different materials?
The outlook also looks promising for pipe structures that combine different materials, from plastic-coated steel pipe to combinations such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) with polyamides and polypropylene (PP) with polyethylene that has raised temperature resistance (PE-RT).  These pipe structure combinations are emerging to help deliver specific performance for a range of industrial and domestic pipe applications.