Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing

Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing and Raychem Heat Shrink Tubing

     This can sometimes get a little bit confusing! I've written previously with a more thorough explanation of the history of Raychem as a brand name, so I will keep things a little bit simpler here.  What ultimately happened, is Raychem kept the name, factory and rights to all of the parts that are typically used in the electrical and energy world.  Covalence ended up with all of the rights to the products that are manufactured for the pipeline world.  As you might imagine, pipelines are typically larger than electrical cables; so ultimately it comes down to size.  Raychem heat shrink tubing is almost always smaller.  Covalence heat shrink tubing is almost always larger.

Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing

     The most commonly sold tubing manufactured by Covalence is the TPS shrink sleeve (stands for Tubular Pipe Sleeve).  This is a heat shrinkable, radiation crosslinked polyolefin backing; coated on the inside with an aggressive mastic sealant.  This mastic sealant bonds to all of the commonly used factory applied pipeline coatings.  TPS heat shrink sleeves are generally only made for pipelines for pipelines 2" thru 8".  This would cover pipe ODs: 2.375" (TPS 2375-18), 2.875" (TPS 2875-18), 3.500" (TPS 3500-18), 4.500" (TPS 4500-18), 6.625" (TPS 6625-18) and 8.625" (TPS 8625-18).  We do also sell TPS in a 9" length (as far as the nomenclature goes; just replace the "18" with a "9".  

The sleeve on the right is a TPS; tubular shrink sleeve

 

     Covalence also manufactures a CPSM shrink sleeve.  We stock the CPSM 195/102-1500-S which is a shrink tube supplied with an ID of 7.677" that will shrink all the way down to a substrate that is 4.01".  This tube is actually 4.92 feet long - so it can be used for a variety of different applications.  CPSM is a high expansion, heavy wall shrink tubing that is coated internally with a mastic sealant meaning that it will bond well to most all surfaces. 

Raychem Heat Shrink Tubing

     Raychem heat shrink tubing, on the other hand, is MUCH smaller - designed for electrical applications and rated for use on certain voltage levels.  WCSM is the most commonly sold shrink tubing: 

WCSM is sold in a variety of sizes; all designed for different wire and connector configurations

     For a more thorough explanation of the different WCSM sizes; visit our page dedicated to WCSM tubing.  WCSM is rated for use to 1000 volts and can be used as a jacket repair all the way up to 35 kV.  

Raychem manufactures dozens of other tubings.  For more information on any of them, visit the electrical blog or our JSI Coatings electrical section.