HMWPE (high molecular weight polyethylene) wire comes in a variety of sizes and can be both single conductor or stranded (HMWPE cable).
HMWPE wire is used in a range of infrastructure projects that include municipal water towers, oil containment units, pipelines which are made of steel, oil drilling rigs, cathodic protection wells which contain the anodes, bridges, parking garages, municipal fire hydrants, and concrete structures. It is also used in gas lines that haven’t been replaced with plastic. Additionally, wherever there is underground steel piping, HMWPE wire is an ideal wire type. HMWPE wire is ideal for connecting the cathode, the structure to be protected, and the anode, the sacrificial component in an impressed current cathodic protection system.
HMWPE wire is also used as a signal carrier to help locate buried poly utility lines which can contain natural gas, water and liquids or gases.
We manufacture two primary products utilizing this plastic compound insulation:
HMWPE cathodic protection cable
Since the HMWPE insulation provides rust protection, it is often used in environments where corrosive chemicals or moisture corrode the copper wire, such as water, chlorine, salt, or petroleum.
Any environment with heavy salt exposure is one where HMWPE wire is essential. Since salt is an oxidizer that causes rusting, steel structures as well as copper wire is highly vulnerable to salt. HMWPE insulation provides long-term protection from salt corrosion.
So this would obviously include seaside, coastal areas. However, even inland landlocked areas require steel structures that is protected from sodium chloride, particularly snowy and icy climates where roads are regularly salted to melt the snow.
Anything with a steel component, whether an overland steel bridge or a concrete parking garage in the northeastern United States, will benefit from an HMWPE insulated cable.
Common HMWPE wire industry applications are:
Learn more about our HMWPE cathodic protection cable and tracer wire products.
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