The service lifetime of corrugated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes used in transportation infrastructure applications has been the subject of several studies over the years. How factors specific to North American climate conditions—such as freeze/thaw cycles, deicing salts, and abrasion—affect pipe service life have not been addressed. In this study, laboratory accelerated-aging tests were conducted to examine the thermo-oxidative degradation as well as tensile strength and creep modulus of HDPE pipes made with or without recycled resins. Specimens were immersed in saline solution (NaCl), acidic solution (H₂SO₄), alkaline solution (NaOH) at 60 °C, or in water and exposed to freeze/thaw cycles ranging from − 40 to + 40 °C. Measuring the oxidative induction time (OIT) at various time intervals quantified the amounts of antioxidants present in the pipes, revealing that the rate of antioxidant depletion depended on the surrounding environment. The depletion rate was faster in the saline solution and slower in the freeze/thaw cycles. For specimens exposed to freeze/thaw cycles, the depletion was 1.12 to 1.91 lower than in the acidic solution, 1.25 to 2.64 times lower than in the alkaline solution, and 1.43 to 3.25 times lower than in saline solution. Nevertheless, the HDPE pipes all met the OIT requirements of a minimum of 20 min. Furthermore, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s HSD test indicate that the tensile strength and creep modulus values of the recycled and virgin HDPE pipes were unchanged before and after immersion in the different solutions.

多年来，用于交通基础设施应用的波纹高密度聚乙烯 (HDPE) 管道的使用寿命一直是多项研究的主题。北美气候条件特有的因素（例如冻融循环、除冰盐和磨损）如何影响管道使用寿命尚未得到解决。在这项研究中，进行了实验室加速老化测试，以检查使用或不使用回收树脂制成的 HDPE 管道的热氧化降解以及拉伸强度和蠕变模量。将试样浸入盐溶液 (NaCl)、酸性溶液 (H ₂ SO ₄)、60 °C 的碱性溶液 (NaOH) 或在水中并暴露于 - 40 至 + 40 °C 的冻融循环。测量不同时间间隔的氧化诱导时间 (OIT) 可以量化管道中存在的抗氧化剂的量，揭示抗氧化剂的消耗率取决于周围环境。盐水溶液中的消耗速度更快，而冷冻/解冻循环中的消耗速度更慢。对于暴露于冻融循环的标本，消耗量比酸性溶液低 1.12 到 1.91 倍，比碱性溶液低 1.25 到 2.64 倍，比盐溶液低 1.43 到 3.25 倍。尽管如此，HDPE 管道都满足了至少 20 分钟的 OIT 要求。此外，