seatec - Finnish marine technology review 1/2007 | Page 30

YIT and Teknikum offer products with rubber lining inside pipeline YIT and Teknikum are jointly offering the shipbuilding industry prefabricated pipelines with a rubber lining. This technical solution will be particularly useful for cruise ships that take their water from the sea. T he challenging conditions on ships make corrosion and erosion a constant problem. One benefit of the rubber lining is increased fire safety, because this solution does not increase fire loads. Pipelines with special rubber inside are also acceptable for provisional use. ”YIT specialises in delivering pipe packages, machine and plant units, and modules,” says Pasi Rasmus of YIT. “The modular construction method enables YIT to make quick and competitively priced installations.” 28 seatec 2007 Hannu Vesterinen, of YIT’s partner company Teknikum, says pipeline corrosion on cruise ships is largely the result of difficult conditions. “Ships take their water from the sea and often ports surrounded by coral reefs, where the water contains coral sand which erodes pipelines,” says Vesterinen. “Rubber inside coated pipelines has proved to be a very good solution.” ”The rubber coating is usually done after the prefabricated pipes have been welded and installed in a YIT workshop and after that Teknikum will coat the pipes with rubber. It is possible for us to send the finished pipes in containers to the customer. We have sent these kinds of deliveries with YIT to China, for example. This delivery included sending cooling pipes to a power plant,” says Vesterinen. ”Technically, the insertion of rubber happens when a raw rubber film of roughly 4mm is spread at a temperature of about 140°C by vulcanisation, so that it is fixed tightly to the interior surface of the pipeline. Its adhesion strength is higher than the tensile strength of rubber.” Having started in the 1970s, YIT has long experience in the prefabrication and installation of marine and offshore piping in Finnish business. Their guiding business principle is to help customers achieve success by placing at their disposal their service chain and know how. Quality and flexibility are key elements that have enabled YIT to realize its business goals. The company offers services ranging from prefabrication to complete turnkey deliveries, including design, materials, prefabrication and installation as well as surface treatment. ■