This is the first accreditation in Spain for determining the Strain Hardening Modulus and its relationship with the resistance to slow cracking in PC100-RC polyethylene materials

ENAC has recently granted accreditation to Universidad Rey Juan Carlos’ Polymer Technology Laboratory (Laboratorio de Tecnología de Polímeros, LATEP) to carry out tests on polyethylene materials for pipe systems used for water and gas conduction. It therefore becomes the first accredited laboratory in Spain to determine the Strain Hardening Modulus and its relationship with the resistance to slow cracking, as established in the ISO 18488 standard.

This test's accreditation enables the analysed polyethylene materials’ degree of resistance to cracking to be determined, and it provides water and gas conduction pipe manufacturers with the necessary guarantees that these materials have been correctly assessed. Carlos Domínguez, director of LATEP, says "The test results can be used by LATEP customers to categorize their product, depending on the result, as conventional PE100 polyethylene or as a new PE100RC".

Likewise, in the words of the LATEP director, "our laboratory's main objective is to demonstrate our technical competence to carry out these tests. Doing so with ENAC also represents for LATEP an unprecedented leap in quality in our 20-year existence at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Therefore, at no time did we have any hesitation about ENAC’s accreditation, which we are especially proud of”.

Why choose accredited laboratories

ENAC accreditation is a tool that enables laboratories to demonstrate, among other aspects, that they have the necessary material and human resources to carry out their tests correctly using technically valid and controlled methods and that, these tests are subject to strict internal and external controls to ensure the validity of their results.

In this way, after having successfully passed a rigorous, transparent and internationally accepted assessment process, accredited laboratories demonstrate their competence and the necessary confidence in their resources, experience and competence to carry out the tests with maximum reliability.