Liu Qiuning Zhao Qihui Chen Jiaqi
(Standardization Technology Committee of National Plastic Products Subsidiary Technology Committee of Plastic Tubing, Tubing Parts and Valves)

As the new style building materials, plastic tubing products have fast development recently and now it has become the important industry of China. At present, we will produce the same kind products if they appear in the foreign market. At the same time, all aspects have paid attention for the standardization of the plastic tube. Entering into the 21st century, all developed countries in the world have put emphasis on the research of the standard development statistics and have made the standardized development stratagem and relevant policy. The reason is that with the fast process of the economical globalization, the degree and function of the standard is becoming more and more important. This article is the brief introduction about standardization situation of the plastic tubing in the foreign countries.

National Standardized Policy and Stature and Former Occupation Returning Management

Third Article of Standardization Statute of PRC: task of standardized work is to set down standard, organize and carry out standard and supervise the implement of the standard. Standardized work should be brought into the national economy and the social development plan.

The fourth article of the Standardization Statute of PRC: state encourages people to actively adopt the national standard.

The fifth article of the Standardization Statute of PRC: standardized competent administrative department of the State Department manages the standardized work of the nation. Relevant administrative departments of the State Department are in charge of the standardized work of their own department and industry.

In order to exert the function of the scientific technologists and experts in the standardization in the fields of production, application, scientific research, education and management, speed up amending speed of the standard, enhance standard level and do the declaration and implement work of the standard well, the Chinese Standardization Management Committee sets up “National Profession Standardization Committee of Technology” in every field according to the stipulation of the Standardization Statute of PRC in terms of the work division. 260 National Profession Standardization Committee of Technology and more than 420 subsidiary committees have been established and more than 27200 experts and managers in various fields as the members until 2000.

Committee of National Plastic Products （CSBTS／TC48）is established in 1984 by Committee of National Standardization Management (The former National Standard Bureau). With the consignment of the Chinese Standardization Management Committee, TC48 is responsible for national standard and industry standard work and the Former Occupation Returning Management of Technology work as well as the technology taste-suit work with the national standard organization. Secretariat of the Committee of National Plastic Products （TC48) is in the process and research institute of the light industry plastic. There are three subsidiary technology committees under TC48. Among them, the third subsidiary technology committee TC48／SC3 is the subsidiary committee of the plastic tubing, tube parts and valves, which is responsible for organizing the setting and amending task of national standard and industrial standard of the domestic plastic tubing products, taking the technology taste-suit work of ISO／TC138[plastic tubing, tube parts and valve of fluid transportation, standardization committee of technology] as a representative of China and taking part in relevant meetings with international standard. SC3 technology committee carefully carries out the policy of actively adopting international standard and actively carrying out metric system of the nation and promotes the national and industry standard of China in this field in the process of setting and amending work to meet the demand of the international standard in the relevant work of setting up and amending the national and industry standard.

Standard is the guide to instruct the production and management of the enterprise. In China, detailed rules are made towards technology demand and testing methods of various products via issuing national, industrial and locale standard, the enterprise should obey the standard towards the products which has had national or industrial standard; standard of the products should be made for those without superior standard. The fierce competition of the market lets many enterprises recognize the importance of the quality of products. Therefore, the enterprise standard that is under the national and industrial standard should not be made under the condition of not reaching the national or industrial standard. Our state encourages enterprises to make the standard exceeding the standard of the higher-up.

The sixth article of Standardization Statute of PRC: technical demand that needs to be uniform in the country should make the national standard, which should be made by the administrative department of the State Department. As for those that do not have national standard but need to have uniform technical demand in certain industry range, industrial standard can be made. The industrial standard is made by relevant competent department of the state council and put on records by standardized administrative department of the State Council, the industrial standard will be cancelled after national standard is publicized. As for those that do not have national and industrial standard but need uniform security and sanitation demand in the provinces, municipality and municipality directly under the Central Government, locale standard can be made. Locale standard should be put records to the standardized administrative department of the state council by administrative department of the provinces, municipality and municipality directly under the Central Government and the locale standard will be cancelled after national standard is publicized. If there is no national and industrial standard for the products of the company, corporate standard should be made as the standard of organizing production. The production standard of the enterprise should be put record to the standardized administrative department of locale government and relevant administrative department. As for those that has had national and industrial standard, the state encourages the enterprises to set up corporate standard that are stricter than the national and industrial standard, which are applicable in the company. Those that are stated by the law will be carried out by the law.

International Plastic Tubing Products Standardized Work in Foreign Countries

ISO is the shortened form of International Organization for Standardization. It is set up by 25 nations, such as China, Australia, Canada, France, Britain, America and Russia on October 14th, 1945 in the London Meeting. ISO is the international league of nation with non-governmental standardized organizations, consisting of 140 members. Moreover, it has relationship with many organizations of the UN and cooperates with more than 400 international organizations on the standardized problem, therefore it is one of the most important organizations of international scientific cooperation in the world.

Tenet of ISO is to promote the standardized work in the worldwide and widen the cooperation in the fields of knowledge, science, technology and economy. Its main task is to make international standard, harmonize standardized work in the world and cooperate to research relevant work of standardization with other international organizations.

Establishment of the standard of ISO is finished through the technical work of 26000 technical organizations and more than 20000 experts. The technical organization is composed of more than 224 technical committees, more than 6000 subsidiary technical committees and more than 1700 working grades. Main technical task of the ISO is finished via publicizing the international standard. At present, no. of the standards has reached 14000. Among them, the ISO／TC138 technical committee of plastic tubing products, tube parts and valve of fluid transportation is one of the most active members. As the newest building materials, the various plastic tubing products related with ISO／TVC138 are developing fast in the recent 20years, becoming the important industry. Moreover, these products have gained attention in China and have been widely used.

ISO／TC138 [technical committee of plastic tubing products, tube parts and valve of fluid transportation] is the most active member in the international standardized organizations, it has 7 subsidiary technical committee and 31 formal members (China is the formal member) and 30 observers.
Subsidiary Technical Committees:
ISO／TC138／SC1 Plastic Tube and Tube Parts Subsidiary Technical Committee for discharging sewage and liquid waste
ISO／TC138／SC2 Plastic tubing and tube parts subsidiary committee for feedwater tubing
ISO／TC138／SC3 Industrial Plastic Tubing and Tube Parts Subsidiary Committee
ISO／TC138／SC4 Plastic Tubing and Tube Parts Subsidiary Committee for fuel gas transportation
ISO／TC138／SC5 Subsidiary Committee of common performance testing method for plastic tubing, tube valve and accessories.
ISO／TC138／SC6 Subsidiary Committee for various intensified plastic tubing and tube parts
ISO／TC138／SC7 Subsidiary Committee for Thermoplasticity plastic valve and accessories.
ISO／TC138 will held meeting biennially and the subsidiary technology committee of ISO／TC138 will also held the meeting which will held once a year. From 14th to 18th of October in 2001, TC48／SC3 invites three subsidiary committees of ISO／TC138／SC1, 2, 5 to held the annual meeting in Beijing. There are 20 Chinese Representatives that take part in the meeting.

Under the guidance of Staten Standardization Management Committee, Plastic tubing, tube parts and valve subsidiary committee of XSBTS／TC48／SC3 national plastic products standardized committee of China takes the technology-suit task with international standard organization ISO／TC138. China has become the P member (formal) from the 0 (observe). Since 1985, TC48／SC3 continuously organizes group to take part in the annual meeting of ISO／TC138 and actively takes part in the international standardized task of the plastic tubing system, making the standardized task of China meet the international standard.

Until May of this year, there are 184 common basic standards, basic standards, method standards, products standards, technology standards and technology reports among the formal standards publicized by ISO／TC138. ISO／TC138 will set up method standard of the basic standard and finish the products standard on the basis of it. Many method standards and basic standards have comparatively professional depth, therefore they are made the standard on the basis of the research center and the academies take part in a great deal of researches, such as chemical resistance, long-term withstand voltage test, hardness test, speedy fracture, which all have relevantly high theory degree. Experts of the ISO／TC138 committee of technology mainly come from the enterprise, they have high enthusiasm in the activity of the ISO. Excellent technologists of many enterprises all take part in the task of the international standardization.

Standardization strategy of EU puts emphasis on further enlarging the scale of the European Standardization System, adopting standardization overture among the international standard organizations, setting up the European position in the activities of international standardization as well as enhancing the competitive ability of the European industry in the world market.

The developed countries, such as America and Japan all put emphasis on assuring the adaptability of the market, strategy of international standardization, policy of standardization, harmonization and implement of researching and developing policy. Among them the most important one is the strategy of international standardization, so do the EU. In order to carry out standard overture in the international standard organizations and set up the European position, therefore EU has absolute superiority on the stage of the international standardization. The America and Japan can not compete with EU in the field of plastic tubing system ISO/TC138.

In order to effectively promote international standardization, the developed countries put emphasis on training excellent persons who are familiar with international standard and have professional knowledge. In order to take part in national standardized activity, the Japanese have higher demand towards the people in the international standardization of the plastic tubing: high level English, profound knowledge, experts in the field or standardization; grasp trend of international technology and economy of the whole world; familiar with the competitive ability and position of their own enterprise and industry in the world and China, know the trend of the enterprise and industry related with this technology; understand relevant tactics between developing strategy of this field enterprise and industry and the policy of related government; excellent communicating ability; understand the active function and long –term effect for the national and corporate standard to enter into the international standard.

The guideline of Chinese standardization is to actively adopt international and advanced standard of foreign countries, which is an important technical and economical policy of China and the important part for introducing the technology. It has important function to improve progress of technology, enhance quality and economical efficiency, enlarge foreign trade and enhance standardization level. It has urgent function for China to enter into WTO and further to meet the standardization of the international organization.

Standardization Work of Chinese Plastic Ductwork

This is the fourth committee since establishment of the CSBTS／TC48／SC3 in 1984. The committee is composed of experts in the unit of raw materials, manufacture enterprises, checkup, construction, unit of water conservancy and research, design academy and colleges. There are 47 formal members now and there are also many enterprises with large scale to actively apply to take part in the subsidiary committee. The secretariat of the SC3 subsidiary committee locates in the process and application research center of industrial plastic.

At present, SC3 subsidiary committee has finished 90％ of the national and industrial standard. There are 27 items of plans that are set according to national standard in 2000.

All members of the SC3 committee makes and amends the national and industrial standard and improves its professional level via training, discussion and kinds of domestic and international exchange activities; at the same time, the draft work of corporate and national standard has also trained technical power, forming technical power of the enterprise as well as technical team and working team with comparatively higher level. SC3 subsidiary committee puts emphasis on organizing the members to study and trying to get help of the national experts. Timely transmit the advanced technology and information of the foreign countries to its members makes the standard work be finished fluently and meet the standard of the world. At the same time of finishing the amending work, there needs deeper understanding towards the implement of the standard, making the technologists of the enterprise can be active in terms of the quality control aspects.

Under the market economy condition, enterprise is the principle part. According to the guideline and spirit of national standardization, working characteristic of the subsidiary committee of SC3 also treats enterprise as the core, therefore standard making and amending work can be done to make the enterprise consciously maintenance the quality of products, carry out and perform the standard to rule the market.

The working stress of SC3 during the ten years from 1984 to 1995 is to make the standard to basically accord with the standard of the PVC-U tubing products with various functions. Among them, most standards have been amended and are amending on the basis of having implement experience.

After the analysis on the structure of international standard, we found that the research of tubing materials is developing greatly in the world with the continuous progress of the polyolefin raw material production technology. The standardized work of the polyolefin raw material products in the international standard organizations is becoming more active, while China has great disparity with the world in this field. Since 1995, SC3 decides to put the emphasis of standardization into the relevant standard of the polyolefin products as well as perfecting the basic standard.

On the basis of the research and study on the doc of international standard, the amending work of polyethylene tubing for water supply and the polypropylene ductwork system for cold and hot water have been finished. During the periods from 1997 to 1999, amending of the GB4271－－84 nominal outer diameter and pressure of the thermoplasticity plastic tube has been finished. In 1996, the latest rules about the grade of tube material of “first part: metric system of the nominal outer diameter and pressure of the thermoplasticity plastic tube for fluid transportation” and the GB－－98 of “common thickness of thermoplasticity plastic tube” have been amended to make the design principle of thickness of the tube meet international standard. Transformation work of ISO12162：1995 “thermoplasticity material of pressure application tubing and parts—sorts and naming (whole application (design)modulus)” has been finished and the classified principle of special material of the tube has been set; Transformation work of the ISO／DIS9080：1997 international standard of “testing of long-term static hydraulic pressure intensity towards the thermoplasticity plastic tube by outer-pushing method for plastic tubing system” has been finished which set standard for basic testing method of classifying the material and statistics method of data arrangement. These standards are the most important basic standards in this field which puts good foundation for the related standard of products to meet the demand of the international standard.

As the new building materials, the plastic tube products have been widely used in the globe recently and have gained many concerns from many fields. From the end of 1980 until now, it has been greatly developed. There are also great development and changes for the raw materials, such as PVC, polyethylene and polypropylene, the tube products industry has become one of most important industry of China.

At present, work of subsidiary technology committee of plastic tubing, parts and valve is very active, the group is enlarging and level is enhancing. SC3 subsidiary committee will try its best to make greater contribution to the healthy development of plastic tubing products in China.

Catalogue of national standard and industrial standard of TC48/SC3 after 1998:
Standard No Standard Name Remark
GB／T3682－200 testing rate of flow of melt quality and volume of thermoplasticity plastic
GB／T4217－2001 nominal outer diameter and pressure of thermoplasticity plastic tubing (metric system series)
GB／T6111－200X hydraulic pressure resistant method of thermoplasticity plastic tubing for fluid transportation Finished
GB／T6671－2001 thermoplasticity plastic tubing Testing of vertical recovery ratio
GB／T8082－2001 thermoplasticity plastic tubing and parts Testing of VEKA intenerate humidity
GB／T8083－2001 injection-moulding PVC－U, PVC－C, ABS, ASA and testing method of heat oven tube parts
GB／T9647－200X Testing of ring rigidity of thermoplasticity plastic tubing Finished
GB／T10002．2－200X PVC－U tube parts for water supply Finished
GB／T10798－2001 Common thickness of wall of thermoplasticity plastic tubing
GB／T13663－2001 high density PE tubing for water supply
GB／T14152－2001 outer shocking performance resistant testing method of thermoplasticity plastic tubing rotation method of hour hand
GB／T15558．1－1995 burying polyethylene tubing for fuel gas Amending
GB／T15558．2－1995 burying polyethylene tubing for fuel gas Amending
GB／T18252－2000 Plastic ductwork testing the long-term static hydraulic pressure of thermoplasticity plastic tubing with outer-pushing method
GB／T18474－2001 cross linking PE－X tubing and parts Testing method of cross linking degree
GB／T18475－2001 Naming of Material Classification for thermoplasticity plastic tubing Total (Application) Modulus
GB／T18476－2001 polyolefin tubing for fluid transportation /testing of crack-spread resistance/low speed crack-increase testing of incision tubing
GB／T18477－2001 PVC－U Corrugated Tubing with double walls for burying and draining water
QB／TXXXX－200X sticky agent of PVC－U tubing (industrial standard) Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.1-200X Polypropylene Ductwork System for Cold and Hot water First Part: Tube Part Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Polypropylene Ductwork System for Cold and Hot water Second Part: Tube Part Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.3-200X Polypropylene Ductwork System for Cold and Hot water Third Part: Tube Part Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.1-200X PVC－C Ductwork for Industry First Part: Tube Part Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X PVC－C Ductwork for Industry Second Part: Tubing Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.3-200X PVC－C Ductwork for Industry Third Part: Tube Part Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.1-200X PVC－C Ductwork for cold and hot water First Part: General rules; Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X PVC－C Ductwork for cold and hot water Second Part: Tubing; Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.3-200X PVC－C Ductwork for cold and hot water Third Part: General rules; Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.1-200X PVC－C Ductwork for cold and hot water First Part: General rules; Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X PVC－C Ductwork for cold and hot water Second Part: Tubing; Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.1-200X Aluminum-Plastic Pressure Tube Aluminum-Plastic Tube with Aluminum Tube Lap Welding Style Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Aluminum-Plastic Pressure Tube Aluminum-Plastic Tube with Aluminum Tube Butt Welding Style Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX-200X thermoplasticity plastic tube and parts for cold and hot water Waiting for issuance
GB/T 8804.1-200X testing of tensile performance of thermoplasticity plastic tube First Part: general rules of testing method Waiting for issuance
GB/T 8804.2-200X testing of tensile performance of thermoplasticity plastic tube SECOND Part: PVC－U, PVC－C, PVC－HI tubing Waiting for issuance
GB/T 8804.3-200X testing of tensile performance of thermoplasticity plastic tube Third part: polyolefin tubing Waiting for issuance
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Plastic tubing, tube parts and valve terms In the process of working
GB/T XXXX.1-200X ABS Plastic Tubing In the process of working
GB/T XXXX.1-200X bending airproofing testing method of elastic airproofing ring connection of PVC （PVC－U） Tubing according to national standard
GB/T XXXX.2-200X negative pressure testing method of elastic airproofing ring connection of PVC （PVC－U） Tubing
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Testing Method of light non-permeability of plastic tubing
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Heat Circulation Method of Ductwork and Tubing Parts Combined System for cold and hot water
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Preparation and Production of Polyethylene （PE） Electric Melting Components
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Peeling Testing Method for Polyethylene （PE） Electric Melting Components
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Extruding and Peeling Testing Method for Polyethylene （PE） Electric Melting Components
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Polyethylene Tubing Low Speed Crack-increase Resistance Cone Testing Method
GB/T XXXX.2-200X thermoplasticity plastic tube for fluid transportation crack-spread （RCP）resistance testing small-sized test
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Polybutene（PB）Ductwork for cold and hot water First Part: General rules
GB/T XXXX.2-200X Polybutene（PB）Ductwork for cold and hot water Second Part: Tubing
GB/T XXXX.2-200X PE Structure Wall Burying Drainage Second Part: PE Winding Plastic Tube
GB/T XXXX.2-200X polyvinyl chloride structure ductwork for burying First Part: PE corrugated pipe with double walls