Protective tube – for all conditions

When is a protective tube used?

A protective tube is useful in various situations to improve the durability of cables, lines, or other tubes:

1. mechanical stress: if cables and wires are subject to heavy strain, for example, due to movement, vibration, or friction, a protective tube can protect against abrasion, cuts, and other mechanical damage.
2. environmental influences: A protective tube can protect its contents from damage caused by water, UV radiation, chemicals or even flying sparks.
3. fire protection: Some protective sleeves offer excellent fire protection properties. This can prevent or at least slow down the spread of fires in an emergency.
4. electrical insulation: If cables are in contact with other conductive materials, a protective tube can prevent short circuits, for example. The build-up of static charge can also be prevented with the right protective tubes.
5. organizational purposes: If several cables or tubes are to be bundled together, a protective tube is often the easiest way to achieve this.

What is a polyurethane protective tube particularly suitable for?

Due to its robust nature, polyurethane is particularly suitable for the production of protective tubes. On the one hand, it offers excellent mechanical properties: polyurethane is very abrasion-resistant and is therefore suitable for use with drag chains, for example. Many cables would quickly break under the stress of drag chains. A robust polyurethane tube helps to make the cables suitable for drag chains. Polyurethane is also very flexible. Protective tubes made from this plastic are therefore also suitable for laying in narrow cable ducts. Polyurethane can also take on various properties through the addition of additives. Flame-retardant, antistatic, or hydrolysis-resistant tubes are just a few examples of this.

What types of protective tubes does PAPUREX offer?

In principle, any tube that can be manufactured in the appropriate dimensions can be used as a protective tube. However, to maximize the longevity of its contents, it is advisable to adapt the protective sleeving to its task. The following tubes are suitable for the conditions of use described above:

• For mechanical loads: if the protective tube only needs to protect its contents from mechanical loads such as impact, friction, or vibration, a standard polyester-based polyurethane tube will suffice. This is the most common and therefore, also the cheapest form of polyurethane tubing. The plastic has a good inherent mechanical resistance and therefore, does not need to be further refined for this type of load

• For environmental stresses: Standard polyether-based polyurethane tubes are particularly suitable for protection against environmental stresses such as the influence of water or microbes. In contrast to polyester-based polyurethane, polyether-based polyurethane is resistant to hydrolysis and microbes and is therefore predestined for outdoor use.

• For fire protection: flamex tubes have been used in industry for decades as protective tubes in the vicinity of welding systems, as they are resistant to sparks and welding spatter. Tubes of the KKS type, on the other hand, are often used in areas where fire protection standards must be met – for example, in airplanes or trains.

• Electrical insulation: an antistatic tube such as A:S:S can help to reduce the risk in precarious environments where short circuits or static charges must be avoided.

• Spiral wrap tubes are particularly suitable for organizing individual cables by bundling them. Thanks to its flexible handling, such a protective tube can be fitted in just a few seconds.