Tim Mally, Director, Pipeline Integrity, Henkel, suggests that composite research is pushing the envelope for remediating complex pipeline integrity threats.
A long time ago, in a galaxy nearby, composite repairs for pipeline defects were an unknown commodity, barely a twinkle in an inventor’s eye. In the 1980s and 1990s, a few innovators had ideas that would change the landscape of pipeline integrity for decades to come, of which pipeline operators are still reaping the benefits.
One inventor observed a few phenomena that would ignite a passion for a new solution for pipeline integrity. The first was the use of composites by NASA to help astronauts land on the moon. The second was the use of composite wrapped aluminum cylinders that helped reduce weight for compressed air tanks for firefighters entering burning buildings, increasing safety and stamina of these courageous first responders. The third was the transition of compressed natural gas cylinders to becoming lighter weight and increased impact safety using aluminum cylinders again being reinforced with composites. Looking upon these space age technology upgrades, this inventor decided that the same could be done for long distance transmission pipelines. After originally inventing the Clock Spring® as a crack arrestor for propagating fractures in a pipeline rupture event in the 1980s, the Gas Research Institute helped to steer the rigid fibreglass, polyester and methyl-methacrylate materials toward use as an anomaly reinforcement for pipeline defects. This composite is still being used to repair high pressure pipelines today.
Another inventor began as a periodontist and avid boater who happened to be part of a team that helped to lead the charge on pioneering dental implants. Utilising composites in dentistry, this innovator began to explore the application of composites to boating and industrial applications in the 1980s. The difference for this pioneer was that the fibreglass materials were flexible as opposed to rigid, and were saturated with a polyurethane resin, allowing water to be the source of the cure. Many iterations and years later his son applied the same technology to pipeline repairs, where Syntho-Glass® XT was born and is still being used to repair and reinforce piping systems and steel structures today.
A third inventor came from a background as a chemist who specialised in the formulation of liquid epoxies for use as a liner for man-holes and water/wastewater pipes in the late 1990s. One particular concrete water pipe had leaks coming into the pipe from the outside in, and he began to search for a solution to this problem. Adding a flexible and high-strength carbon fibre to his epoxy mixture allowed the pipe to prevent future water ingress and added structural reinforcement, and voila, DiamondWrap® was created. The high strength of the carbon fibre had many benefits that eventually led to further developments for modern-day pipeline repairs and technology advancement.
These three composite systems have helped to pave the way for repair technology to advance to the modern state that it is in today. But what was the path it took to get here? Along the way, the technology has had to undergo rigorous testing and validation, detailed engineering analysis, and field application trial and error to become the sleek, buttoned up repair solution that pipeline operators trust implicitly. Continue along as the path is revealed, including all of the bumps and bruises that were accumulated to become a robust and trusted pipeline integrity remediation tool.
Read the full article in the Americas 2026 issue of World Pipelines Magazine.
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World Pipelines’ Americas 2026 issue
The Americas 2026 issue of World Pipelines explores the pipeline infrastructure supporting energy security and economic growth across the region. From Latin America's natural gas potential and North America's expanding gas network, to pipeline integrity, automation and asset maintenance, this special issue examines the technologies, investment and expertise helping operators build, maintain and optimise the systems that connect supply with demand.