Does PE pipe belong to the chemical category?

walking on the footpath of the community, many of the water supply and drainage pipes and gas pipes buried in the ground are PE pipes. Many people will wonder: is this common plastic pipe considered a chemical product? To answer this question, we have to start with the "root" of PE pipes. The full name of PE pipes is "polyethylene pipes", and the core material is polyethylene (PE) - a synthetic resin made from the polymerization of ethylene monomers. Ethylene, which comes from the cracking of oil or natural gas, is a typical petrochemical product. In other words, the "raw material mother" of PE pipes is itself the "child" of the chemical industry. Look at the production process of PE pipes: the manufacturer sends PE particles into the extruder, heats them to a molten state, and extrudes them into a tube through a mold. Finally, it is cooled, cut, and inspected. The "heating and melting" and "extrusion molding" in this process are all classic chemical processes in plastic processing - the essence is to convert chemical raw materials into end point products through physical and chemical changes. From the perspective of industry attribution, the production of PE pipes belongs to the "plastic sheet, pipe and profile manufacturing" under the "rubber and plastic products industry". And this industry happens to be located in the downstream of the chemical industry chain: the upstream is the production of PE particles by petrochemical enterprises, the middle is the plastic processing plant to make the particles into pipes, and the downstream is the end point application such as construction and municipal administration. In other words, PE pipes are rooted in the chemical industry chain from raw materials to production. Some people may wonder: PE pipes are obviously used in construction and municipal administration, how can they be chemical? In fact, the end point application scenario does not change the essence of the product - just like steel bars are used in construction, but it belongs to steel products; although PE pipes serve municipal governments, their "genes" are full of chemical traces. To sum up: the material of PE pipes is chemical products, the production process is chemical processing, and the industrial chain belongs to the downstream of the chemical industry - these three dimensions all point to the same conclusion: PE pipes belong to chemical products. Next time you see PE pipes, you will understand: it is not ordinary plastic, but a "practical gift" from the chemical industry to our lives.