Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article – Polymer or resin containing
Patent
1996-04-25
1997-12-23
Zirker, Daniel
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
Polymer or resin containing
428 60, 428192, 428343, 156195, B32B 2302, B32B 712
Patent
active
057005303
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article for providing a protective covering to a substrate and to methods of applying and securing such an article to a substrate.
INTRODUCTION OF THE INVENTION
Structures such as, for example, supports, e.g. for oil rigs or piers, and pipes commonly require protection from mechanical abuse and corrosion. It is well known to provide such protection by providing a protective covering, e.g. a sleeve or tape on the structure. In order to provide an effective and reliable protective covering it is often necessary to apply the covering in the factory prior to installation of the structure. However, with time, such coverings fail to maintain their protection due to mechanical abuse, e.g. soil stresses or wave battering, poor resistance to heat or cold and/or moisture, and poor initial application of the covering. When failure of the covering occurs it is normally necessary to remove the original covering and apply a new covering to the structure. In addition, when pipes are connected, e.g. welded, together it is normally necessary to apply a protective covering to the exposed pipe joint.
It is often difficult to apply an effective and long-lasting protective covering to a structure that is in its operational location. This may be partly due to the difficulty of ensuring that the covering is applied to the structure without defects and partly due to the fact that conditions in the field often prevent the use of equipment or techniques that may be used in the factory.
One successful method of applying a protective covering to a structure, e.g. a pipeline, in the field is disclosed in European Patent Application No. 0181233, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This method comprises coating the pipeline with a liquid curable polymeric primer, e.g. an epoxy resin, and then applying one or more polymeric layers, e.g. a tape or sleeve, the innermost layer of which is capable of interacting with the curable polymeric primer in order to form a secure attachment to the structure. The method has the advantage that it does not require the high temperatures and complex equipment needed in some previous coating methods, notably the so-called `fusion-bonded epoxy` methods, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,213,486, 4,510,007 and 3,502,492.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape for providing a protective covering to an elongate substrate by being wrapped around the substrate in an overlapping manner, wherein at least one edge of the tape extending in the direction of wrapping is chamfered in order to alleviate the existence of voids at the overlap.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of applying to an elongate substrate a tape according to the invention, which comprises wrapping the tape around the substrate in an overlapping manner so that the or each overlapping edge of the tape is in intimate contact with at least part of the chamfer of the respectively overlapped edge of tape.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of securing an article to a substrate, wherein the article comprises a heat-activatable composition, preferably an adhesive, the method comprising placing the article in thermal contact with the substrate and heating the substrate by induction, i.e. by applying a high frequency alternating magnetic field thereto, such that skin effect induction heating of the substrate heats the composition and the article is thereby secured to the substrate.
The first and second aspects of the invention solve, or at least alleviate, a problem associated with wrapping tapes (the term `tape` is used herein to mean tape, sheet or wraparound sleeve) around substrates such that a tape-to-tape overlap is present, namely the presence of a gap or void between the tape and the substrate at the overlap. The presence of such a gap or void, and particularly the presence of a
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Burkard Herbert G.
Gerstner Marguerite E.
NV Raychem SA
Zirker Daniel
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