The development of polyethylene materials for use as pipes in gas and water transport has resulted in a design stress of 10 N/mm² at 20°C for a service life of 50 years in PE 100 materials, particularly concerning their pressure resistance.

In the past seven years, the further development of PE 100 materials has focused on enhancing a property commonly known as "resistance to slow crack growth" or "stress crack resistance", with the aim of expanding their application areas. Through process optimization in the production of multimodal polyethylene or copolymerization with suitable α-olefins, some manufacturers have developed PE 100 materials that exhibit exceptional stress crack resistance. These advanced materials, designated as "PE 100-RC", are detailed in PAS 1075 concerning alternative installation methods.

3R International (47) Issue 3-4/2008, pages 189-193