Fuel tank testing

For more than 35 years, Corilla Plastics has been responsible for testing rotationally moulded plastic Fuel Tanks in accordance with ECE Regulations 34, Annex 5.

Les Loosemore, Technical Sales Manager explains in our short video:

Our extensive experience means we can provide full project management support to help our customers achieve approval of the regulations.

Customers that have benefited from this service and support include Ford New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Iveco Trucks, Landrover, Fiat and LDV. In fact we recently tested and approved four derivatives of LDV’s award winning Maxus vehicle, each fitted with rotationally moulded plastic fuel tanks.

The principal aspects of the ECE testing include the following:

  1. Impact Resistance at – 40 degrees C
  2. Mechanical Strength at + 53 degrees C at 0.3 bar pressure
  3. Fuel Permeability at + 40 degrees C for up to 12 weeks
  4. Resistance to Fuel after Permeability test. The tank must conform to both Impact Resistance and Mechanical tests
  5. Resistance to Fire for 120 seconds on 3 different tanks
  6. Resistance to High Temperature filled to 50 per cent capacity for 60 minutes at 95 degrees C

In accordance the regulation, fuel tanks are also subjected to a roll over and hydraulic test.

In all tests the rotationally moulded polyethylene used has proved to be tough and resilient and is suitable for manufacture of parts with many more applications.