I was thinking of surface tension in terms of the liquid being able to work its way through pipe threads. If you poke a very small hole in a container of water (not pressurized), no water escapes the container because the surface tension of the fluid is enough to seal the hole. If you add something like soap or antifreeze to the water, you decrease the surface tension of the mixture and the water may begin to escape.
However, it is true that expansion in metal pipe has been known to work threads loose. I'm not sure if expanding fluid has the same effect. Brett Foreman -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brad Casterline Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:28 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Pipe Dope I cannot see surface tension having an effect in a closed system with pressure above 1 atmoshere absolute- (see capillarity, adhesion, cohesion), and I cannot see viscosity having an effect in a non-flowing situation. I can see the expansion/contraction as a sort of 'vibration', jiggling things loose. -----Original Message----- From: å... .... [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 11:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Pipe Dope Surface tension is one way of describing slipperyness. perhaps a better variable for this though is viscocity. If the AF solution were thixotropic, its viscosity would lessen over time, explaining the ooze factor. Scot Deal Excelsior Fire Engineering _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
