ARTICLE AND METHOD FOR MODIFYING THE SURFACE OF A SUBSTRATE

摘要

A method of covering a pipeline, which can be carried out either in the factory or in the field comprises enveloping the pipeline with a covering such as a helically wound tape (20) comprising a heat recoverable layer (21), having first surrounded the pipeline with a thermal barrier layer (such as a mastic (23)) that bonds to the pipeline without the application of heat. A heat activatable adhesive (22) is used to bond the heat recoverable layer (21) to the thermal barrier layer. In the most preferred embodiment the thermal barrier layer and adhesive layer are pre-applied to the heat recoverable tape, and one edge (24) of the tape is bare of thermal barrier layer to allow good bonding between adjacent overlapping turns of the tape.