Covalence Shrink Sleeves (formerly Raychem)

Seal For Life’s Covalence brand offers a comprehensive range of heat shrinkable products designed for corrosion prevention, mechanical protection, and sealing of pipelines, including field joints and pre-insulated pipe systems. Below is an overview of their main product offerings and applications:

• Covalence provides both 2-layer and 3-layer heat-shrinkable sleeves.

• These sleeves feature irradiation cross-linked polyethylene or polypropylene backings, combined with adhesive layers (either visco-elastic mastic or co-polymer hot melt) tailored for different pipeline operating temperatures and environments.

• The 3-layer systems often include an epoxy primer for enhanced adhesion and are compatible with modern multi-layer mainline coatings, creating a monolithic protection system.

• : A two-layer field-joint coating system designed for corrosion protection of pipelines operating at ambient temperatures. It is among the most widely used solutions for girth weld protection.

• : High-performance, three-layer sleeves with epoxy primer, designed for pipelines with higher operating temperatures and demanding environments. These sleeves offer excellent resistance to cathodic disbondment, hot water immersion, and soil/thermal movement stresses - HTLP60 & HTLP80

• : Specifically engineered for directional drilling and applications requiring extra mechanical strength - DIRAX & CCS Material used to make Caseals and Flangeseals.

• : Designed to provide durable sealing solutions for pre-insulated pipe joints, protecting against moisture ingress and maintaining thermal integrity.

• : Includes joint casings, foaming hole closures, primary joint foam seals, end caps, and sealants to support a wide range of pipeline configurations and field conditions.

• High electrical resistance and low permeability for optimal corrosion prevention.

• Designed for easy installation with minimal tools and surface preparation.

• Approved by major testing agencies worldwide, ensuring suitability for diverse field conditions and compliance with global standards such as ISO, EN, AWWA, NACE, and GOST.

• Proven performance record in major pipeline projects globally, including oil, gas, and water transmission lines.

Product Type	Layers	Key Application	Notable Features
WPCT	2	Field joint corrosion protection	Ambient temperature pipelines
HTLP Series	3	High-temp, high-stress environments	Epoxy primer, soil/thermal resistance
Fiberglass-Reinforced Sleeves	2–3	Directional drilling, mechanical stress	Extra strength, abrasion resistance
Pre-Insulated Pipe Sleeves	2–3	Pre-insulated pipe joints	Moisture and thermal protection

Covalence’s heat shrinkable products are trusted globally for their reliability, versatility, and ease of installation, making them a leading choice for pipeline protection and sealing needs.

 Lead Time for Covalence Shrink Sleeves

      Once upon a time, Covalence Heat Shrink Sleeves were called RAYCHEM (many people still remember that name:

     Since 1989 we have been a stocking location for Raychem (now Covalence) Shrink Sleeves.  We specialize in a few things:

• We are knowledgeable about the product
• We keep a large stock of inventory
• We try to ship all orders out within one day

     So, lead times are generally very SHORT.  A few of the Covalence products that we stock and make in our facility in Conroe, TX 77385:

• DIRAX - directional drilling field joint coating
• WPCT - basic mastic shrink sleeve rated for use up to 140F
• WPC100M - mastic shrink sleeve rated or use up to 212F (in some circumstances)
• WPC120 - hot melt adhesive shrink sleeve rated to 251F
• TPS - WPCT in a slip on / tubular form
• Caseal - high expansion sleeve for sealing between a casing and a carrier pipe
• Flangeseal - high expansion sleeve for protecting a flange
• Flexclad - heat shrink tape
• HTLP60 and HTLP80 - three layer coating system
• S-1301m Epoxy that is used with products like DIRAX and HTLP

Give us a call with any questions!  Would love to chat about your next project!  936/321-3333

CSEM Shrinkable Sleeve for Repair of FBE Coating

Raychem CSEM Shrinkable Sleeve 

I've seen a specification floating around the last few days calling out for our CSEM product.  Covalence (formerly Raychem) has twenty or more products that are regularly specified and used here in the USA.  Worldwide, that number grows (as very often different countries will have different opinions about the most important properties of a pipeline coating. 

This is a specification is written only for repairing damaged sections of FBE (not for field joint).  In addition - this spec calls out for a 'high expansion sleeve capable of coating straight line pipe and/or couplings'. 

The two products mentioned are CSEM and our competitors competitor product X:

CSEM is called CS here in the USA (Caseal) and it is a high expansion material, that shrinks 66% allowing it to cover a wide range of coupling/pipe dimensions.  CS more than exceeds the 100 mil requirement. 

X is a ~33% shrink material (so not nearly as versatile and unlikely to be able to handle most coupling configurations).  In addition - X does not meet the 100 mil requirement noted in detail by the specification.

X also does not meet the requirement of 2.5 A which calls for the sleeve to be coated on the inside with a visco-elastic mastic sealant.

So, this specification is a little confused because X is listed by name but does not meet 3 of the requirements.  In addition, since this is an FBE repair specification - the X will be very difficult to use when damage is found during holiday testing after welds have been made (or when pipe has been damaged after the pipe has already been welded). 

Beyond all of that of course - is the statement that the Engineer can approve an "equal".  But here are my thoughts:

- CS (CSEM) is a great product.  If they are expecting to need to coat or repair damage to mechanical couplings, this would likely be the best choice (we would need to know the OD of the coupling and the OD of the pipe of course).  But, if you are expecting to only do repairs on straight line pipe -- this product would still work VERY well -- but in my opinion it would be a little bit of overkill and more expensive than you really 'need' to spend. 

- X is a product that was loosely based on our own TPS product.  TPS is our "or equal" that is sold regularly against and in place of X.  TPS is a tubular product, coated with a mastic sealant and is fully compatible with FBE coated pipe for both field joints and repairs.

- Our 'wrap around one piece' version of TPS is called WPCT.  It would also be an excellent choice, particularly in cases where the pipe has already been welded and sliding a tube hundreds of feet down the line simply isn't practical.  Neither TPS or WPCT would meet the 100 mil requirement, but neither does the X, so I am offering them here.

In addition - TPS and/or WPCT would be excellent products for the field joints and offer much stronger technical properties than a cold applied tape does (and quite frankly; are less reliant on installer skill and less apt to provide a spiral leak path). 

All of these thoughts are based on the belief that we are talking about an ambient temperature pipeline.  If this is an elevated temperature line than everything I have said here would need to be re-evaluated based on whatever that temperature is.