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.

Three Layer Field Joint Coating

 3 Layer Field Joint Coating

   

     In many parts of the world, three layer factory applied pipe coatings are the dominant selection.  In those cases, those three layers are typically:  Epoxy, Adhesive and Backing.  These coatings have been proven in countless situations.  Polyethylene offers excellent abrasion resistance, electrical resistivity and cathodic disbondment values.  All critically important technical properties for a pipeline coating to have.

     In order to re-create that factory applied coating system on a field joint, Raychem (a number of years ago) created the HTLP sleeve system.  HTLP mimics that factory applied coating and offers a contiguous coating type for the length of your pipeline.  

    With HTLP80 you get the following layers:

• primary corrosion coating:  S1301M Epoxy Primer
• second layer:  a high shear hot melt adhesive that chemically and physically bonds to the S1301M.
• outermost layer:  radiation crosslinked heat shrinkable polyolefin

     If you have questions, shoot me an email!  Steve@jsicoatings.com

 Covalence HTLP Shrink Sleeves

     Covalence (formerly Raychem) offers a shrink sleeve system with the nomenclature
HTLP.  This originally stood for:  High Temp Low Preheat as the system utilizes an epoxy primer bonding agent which allows the system to be installed on a lower level of preheat.  HTLP sleeve systems can be installed by (generally) preheating steel and adjacent factory coating to 140F.

     Primarily available in the form of HTLP80; historically HTLP60 has been sold around the glove in large quantities.  The difference between those two product?  HTLP80 is rated for use on pipelines operating at up to 176F and HTLP60 is designed for 140F.  In recent years, Covalence has been fading out the HTLP60 material and standardizing HTLP sleeve systems use of HTLP80.  It is rated to a higher temperature; but otherwise practically indistinguishable - so why not?  

     So what is Covalence's HTLP pipeline coating system comprised of?  

1. Outermost layer is a heat shrinkable, radiation crosslinked polyolefin backing
2. Middle layer is a high shear hot melt adhesive
3. Primary corrosion coating is a two part epoxy primer bonding agent

     If you have further questions, let's talk about them!  936/321-3333

Temperature Ratings for Covalence/Raychem Heat Shrink Sleeves

 Temp Ratings for Covalence / Raychem Heat Shrink Sleeves for Corrosion Prevention

     I've found that often conversations about the product are more valuable than simply looking at a website.  I'd love to chat with you about this:  Steve 936/321-3333

    But now, looking at the various maximum temperature ratings for various Covalence / Raychem shrink sleeves:  we are basing these on maximum operating temperature of the pipeline.  In many cases, a pipeline project may list something like "maximum design temperature" and "expected operating temperature".  Very often, coatings are selected that will be able to meet the "maximum design temperature."  Occasionally, a client of ours will direct us to ignore 'max design' and instead quote based on "expected."  That is their choice of course.  

     So from here, I'm looking specifically at the flip side:  what is the maximum operating temperature of a pipeline with specific regard to our coatings (which is actually based almost wholly on the ratings of the adhesive used on that coating. 

WPCT - 140F

WPC65M - 150F

WPC100M - 176F (212F offshore or under insulation)

WPC120 - 251F

HTLP60 - 140F

HTLP80 - 176F

TPS - 140F

    To reiterate:  conversations about your project are MUCH BETTER than simply plugging in something you've read; so please call me to discuss!!

HTLP60 vs HTLP80

 What is the Difference Between HTLP60 and HTLP80

     Here is the truth, HTLP60 and HTLP80 are incredibly similar products.  The primary difference is:

• HTLP60 is rated for use on pipelines that will operate at or below 60C (140F).
• HTLP80 is rated for use on pipelines that will operate at or below 80C (176F). 

     Other than that, both coating systems create a three layer coating on your field joint, quite similar to a factory applied three layer coating.  They use a two part epoxy bonding agent to act as the primary corrosion coating, and the shrink sleeve provides the physical protection for that epoxy through the life of the pipeline. 

     The shrink sleeve utilizes a specially formulated adhesive sealant (and that sealant is where the maximum operating temperatures come from).  Both sleeves also use a radiation crosslinked polyolefin sleeve backing which brings with it excellent penetration resistance and electrical resistance (one of the most important properties of a buried steel pipeline).

  

Covalence Shrink Sleeve Rolls - in stock

 Raychem / Covalence Shrink Sleeve Rolls

IN STOCK

     One of JSI's greatest strength is our inventory.  We know that the products we sell are very often last minute needs that were forgotten earlier in the construction planning process.  We work to keep our 20,000 square foot warehouse full of material so that we are ready to meet your demands....exactly when you need your demands met.  Need product in Florida in two days?  We can do that.  Need a box of material overnighted to New York?  No problem.  Need to swing by two hours from now to pick up a pallet of material?  Done, see you in a couple of hours.

       But in this article, I'm only talking about rolls of material in stock ready to go.  That could mean you're buying rolls for your project -- or it could mean we are converting those rolls into sleeves for specific pipe sizes (which is absolutely what we recommend).

WPCT:  The Covalence wrap around, mastic coated sleeve designed for pipelines operating at or below 140F.  We stock WPCT in 11", 17", 24" and 34" widths and we are capable of making any custom width less than 34".

WPC100M:  The mastic sleeve for elevated temperatures.  Rated at 176F (or 212F offshore or under insulation).  We stock WPC100M in 11", 17", 24" and 34" widths.

WPC120:  The high temp sleeve; rated for use at 251F.  We stock WPC120 in 11", 17", 24" and 34" widths.

DIRAX / ROCS / SZAR:  The high performance sleeve most often used on road bores and directional drilling applications.  We stock DIRAX i 12", 17", 24" and 34" widths.

TWDB:  Thermofit wrap around duct bands; sold in rolls that are 165 feet long.  We stock TWDB in 3" and 4" widths.

Flexclad:  Heat shrinkable tape; sold in rolls that are 50 feet long.  We stock Flexclad in 2", 3" and 4" wide tape.

HTLP60:  Three layer coating system for lines operating at or below 60C.  We stock HTLP60 in 11", 17", 24" and 34" widths.

HTLP80:  Three layer coating system for lines operating at or below 80C.  We stock HTLP80 in 11", 17", 24" and 34" widths.