Several years ago a joint industry project sponsored by US and Canadian pipeline companies tracked 11 girth weld coatings for speed of installation from start to backfill. “Tapes” and RD-6 as a group won this race by a big margin – twice as fast as shrink sleeves, four times faster than liquid epoxies.

Polyguard prefers you to think of RD-6 as different from “tape”, since the RD-6 geotextile backing is many times stronger and far less stretchable than solid film back sleeves and tape. Another difference is that RD-6 won’t shield cathodic protection currents as do solid film back sleeves and tape.

However, like “tape”, RD-6 is supplied in roll form and needs no cure before backfill.