What causes the PVC pipe to become brittle and cracked

PVC pipes have become a popular building material due to their low cost and durability. PVC pipes can be used in most drainage, water supply, and ventilation applications. In these applications, most owners believe that PVC is a maintenance-free product. According to their application, the use of this material is understandable. When this pipe is placed for a long time under certain circumstances, PVC will be very brittle and cracked. Let's take a look at the factors that affect it.

UV exposure

White PVC pipes (used for plumbing) will break when exposed to ultraviolet rays (such as from the sun). This makes the material unsuitable for outdoor applications that will not be embedded, such as flagpoles and roofs. Over time, ultraviolet radiation will degrade through the polymer, thereby reducing the flexibility of the material, causing splitting and cracking.

Low temperature

With the advent of winter; the temperature drops, PVC becomes more and more brittle. After prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures, it will become brittle and easily break. PVC is not suitable for installation in colder environments. It is necessary to avoid freezing water in PVC pipes. This time directly leads to rupture of PVC pipes.

Years

Over time, all polymers will degrade to a certain degree. This is an artificial product of its chemical composition. Over time, PVC will exude plasticizer material. Plasticizers are added to PVC during manufacturing to increase its flexibility. When the plasticizer slowly drains from the PVC pipe, the pipe not only becomes not easy to bend, but also due to the lack of plasticizer molecules, leaving a lot of ripples, resulting in cracks, this phenomenon will continue to spread.

Chemical exposure

PVC pipes can become brittle due to chemical exposure. As a polymer, chemicals will have a chemical reaction effect on the composition of PVC, leading to loosening of bonds between plastic molecules, accelerating the rate of loss of plasticizer from the pipeline. PVC drainage pipes are exposed to a large amount of chemicals (for example, liquid drainage pipe blockage removers) and become brittle.

In our daily decoration, some protection measures should be taken for this pipeline.