Heraeus Helps Barrier Develop Insulation System
A custom-built infrared system from Heraeus Noblelight has helped the Wallsend-based Barrier Group to develop a thermal insulation system for submarine pipelines. The high-power infrared system is used to cure adhesive to ensure that a polypropylene material, which imparts impact resistance, corrosion protection and additional thermal insulation, can be efficiently applied to an insulation shell around a conventional steel pipe. This is claimed to result in reduced lay tension, together with improvements in pipe-laying productivity. The Barrier Group provides corrosion-protection coatings for steelwork and pipelines in the oil-and-gas sector. It has now diversified into areas such as passive fire protection, metal spraying, powder coatings and subsea insulation. One result of this has been the development of the patented Bubbletherm system, where a conventional steel pipe is enclosed with epoxy syntactic insulation and the whole assembly is further insulated and protected with a wrapp...