Fuel-Line Systems

In the late 1980s, Europe and the United States began developing fuel lines with multiple layers. The impetus for the new design came from the increasing stringency of the requirements by the U.S. agencies CARB and EPA for reducing hydrocarbon emissions from the use of motor vehicles. Compared to monowall tubing, multi-layer tubing displayed reduced fuel permeation by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude.

Recently, the demand for conductive fuel lines has become increasingly important. The use of conductive plastic tubes for supply and return lines has become mandatory for U.S. car manufacturers, but Japan and Korea, as well as individual manufacturers in Europe, are also following this trend. The technical requirements and conditions for this are described in detail in SAE J1645.

High Performance Polymers has not only responded to the increased requirements but developed pathbreaking new combinations of materials. Our compounds are optimized so that they can be extruded at speeds comparable to those of monowall tubing. Because certain multi-layer designs use no adhesion promoters and can be fabricated nearly without having to change the usual monowall tubing technology, the technical expenditure required to begin producing multi-layer tubing is minor. Our wide range of compounds for multi-layer tubing also allows us to develop special customized systems. Talk to us.