The vital link

THE GASKET
The operational cycle and hence the availability of a
plate heat exchanger is highly dependent on the gaskets.
Which makes the choice of gaskets decisive. This folder
tells you more about materials, lifetime and applications.
 Gaskets for conventional plate heat exchangers
are made of various elastic and formable
materials, such as rubber.
Experts can testify that rubber is a complex,
high-molecular material composed of a number
of different substances.
T he main component of rubber is rubber polymer,
which occurs in various forms. The most com-
mon types of polymer are pure hydrocarbons
such as EPDM, IIR or NR, which are not oil-
resistant, substituted hydrocarbons in which a
hydrogen atom is replaced by e.g. a chlorine or fluorine atom,
as in NBR, CR, CSM or FPM, all of which are highly oil-
resistant, or non-hydrocarbons, such as silicon or poly-
phosphazene, which have varying resistance to oil.
However, polymers do not become elastic until they
undergo vulcanization, when the chains of molecules are
cross-linked into the three-dimensional network that is
typical of polymers.
Structure of rubber
In addition to polymers, rubber
comprises a number of other raw
materials:
— Vulcanization chemicals
such as sulphur, organic resins
and organic peroxides. These sub-
stances bind the rubber polymer to
a three-dimensional network
which gives the rubber its elastic
properties.
—Fillers, i.e. extenders and
reinforcing components that
enhances such physical proper-
ties of the rubber as hardness and
strength. Carbon black is widely
used as a filler and also makes the rubber black.
—Anti-degradants, which delay aging of the rubber
when it comes in contact with aggressive substances such as
oxygen or ozone.
—Components that facilitate handling and manufac-
turing, e.g. those that make the rubber softer and more
pliable, and thus easier to work.
The quality of a gasket is related to the proportions of
the raw materials. The quantity of polymer is important and
is usually around 50%. Cheaper products often have less
rubber, sometimes no more than 20%, but more fillers
and softeners, such as lampblack or various types of oils.
Cheap rubber therefore ages faster and is less effective as
a sealant.
Number of components
A number of different raw materials and chemicals are avail-
able for production of rubber. This means that the development
process demands long experience and special expertise. The
number of substances that are available for making a new type
of rubber illustrates the complexity of developing rubber:
- 100 grades of EPDM polymers
- 150 different nitrile polymers
- 50 fluorocarbon polymers
- 20 butyl polymers
- 600 vulcanization chemicals
- 200 fillers
- 300 anti-degradants
- 300 processing aids
Laboratory work
Alfa Laval Thermal maintains an
intensive and continuous develop-
ment program aimed at improving
the performance of our plate heat
exchangers. This program consists
of six primary phases:
1. Study of literature and previous
experiments, which can take up to
4 months.
2. The 10 rubber materials that are most promising in theory
are chosen and subjected to chemical and mechanical stress,
e.g. oxygen and stretching. This phase may take up to 5
months.
3. The materials with the best results are then tested in plate
heat exchangers in the laboratory for as long as 1 year.
4. The feasibility of producing the rubber industrially is then
evaluated, which may take up to 2 months.

Developing a specific gasket material calls for time and
money. But these resources represent an investment that
pays off for the user in terms of reliable operation.
5. The two best gasket materials are then tested in one or more
practical applications for at least 1 year. This clarifies how the
materials perform in terms of operation, service, cleaning and
other real-world parameters.
6. The rubber material with the best results is approved for
manufacture. The compound must not be modified and in most
cases must not be divulged without written approval from Alfa
Laval.
Manufacturing expertise
In summary, rubber consists of a number of different sub-
stances depending on the application, such as a squash ball,
jogging shoes or a gasket for a plate heat exchanger.
The important thing to remember is that a gasket from one
supplier is seldom identical to a gasket from another supplier,
although the gaskets may have the same designation. This
means that a nitrile gasket from one supplier does not neces-
sarily have the same properties as a nitrile gasket from another
source.
It takes a long time to acquire the expertise required for
identifying the precise requirements of various media and
applications in terms of gaskets. Developing a specific gasket
material calls for time and money. But these resources repre-
sent an investment that pays off for the user in terms of reliable
operation.
LADISLAV NOVAK
Ph. D., Chemical Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology,
Gothenburg, Sweden.
Materials Laboratory Manager,
Alfa Laval Thermal, Lund, Sweden.
Long
lifetime
Quality means reliability.
That s why it s vital to select the
right gasket for a plate heat
exchanger. The main point is to
avoid downtime!
Low-quality gaskets result in reduced capa-
city for a plate heat exchanger. There s no ques-
tion about that.
And it s just as obvious that a quality gasket
means higher reliability.
But over time, even a quality gasket becomes
less elastic and loses some of its capability as a
sealant. In the end, aging leads to leaks and
downtime.
Aging results from exposure to oxygen, high
temperatures and other factors. That s why the
right gasket should provide maximum resistance
to these factors. And the right gasket is never a
question of a standard solution.
Resilience
A new gasket has impressive resilience, exactly
like a young person looking forward to a long
life. The gasket expands and fills its groove in
order to seal in the media that flow through the
exchanger. This is the condition that we want to
maintain. But since rubber is an organic material,
it is affected by its ambient environment —in
other words, it ages. This is unavoidable. But
there are ways to prolong the life of rubber.
First of all, this calls for investing in the right
type of gasket. Since the plates have deep chan-
nels, a design such as an O-ring can t be used, as
it is best fitted to serve as a plug. Instead, the right
gasket has to be capable of compression in order
to resist the stresses and forces that the flow of
media can generate.
Secondly, the right gasket materials must be
selected, and this requires comprehensive exper-
tise in applications and materials.
Some applications generate less wear, such as
 Long
lifetime
continued

water/water at low temperatures. A gasket in an

exchanger with this type of duty can last for many
years without leaking.
But there are other applications which quickly
reveal the quality of a gasket in no uncertain terms.
The process industry is one example. In this sector,
heat exchangers handle aggressive media such as
lye and acids. If the temperature of these media is
also high, the stress on the gaskets can be very great.
EPDM and nitrile rubber
The two most commonly used materials for gaskets
are EPDM and nitrile rubber.
EPDM is often used in the processing industry
and shows impressive resistance to corrosive media.
It is also used in heat exchangers where media tem-
peratures are high, as nitrile rubber is sensitive to
these. But this does not mean that EPDM is a
general solution for difficult applications.
Limitations
It s often said that lik e dissolves like , and in many
cases this means that EPDM reacts with oil, swells
and then cracks. EPDM can thus not be used in
applications such as oil platforms. Although these
applications involve very high temperatures, nitrile
gaskets are used nevertheless, thanks to a specially
developed variant of nitrile rubber.
This shows that there is no standardized solution
when it comes to selecting a gasket, which in turn
means that each compound for gasket material also
has to be unique. The compounds are developed
with reference to the type of media in the heat
exchanger and the ambient environment.
Gasket-free?
It could be asked why plate heat exchangers with
gaskets are used in the first place. There are gasket-
free units that can be cleaned easily with CIP (Clean-
ing-In-Place) systems. A CIP system is connected to
the heat exchanger, which is then washed with a
cleaning agent that dissolves scale, among other things.
In other words, a CIP system enables cleaning without
the need to open the heat exchanger.
Some applications require a plate heat exchanger
with gaskets. A quality gasket gives higher reliability.
One reason for choosing plate heat exchangers
with gaskets is that specific applications require units
that must be opened in order to clean them. They can-
not be maintained in acceptable condition with CIP
alone, but must be cleaned mechanically because the
channels are blocked by materials that are difficult to
dissolve, such as sand, clay or various types of salts. It
is possible to dislodge these materials with chemicals,
but this involves a risk of attacking the plates as well.
Another reason is that plate heat exchangers with
gaskets are more flexible. They can easily be opened
and reconfigured. They have a broad range of applica-
tions, and investing in a gasket-free unit is not always
necessary, since gasketed exchangers have enough
capacity and are also compact. In addition, they are
easy to monitor in terms of dirt, scale and blockages.
Gasket data base
Selecting the right gasket is not easy. That s why Alfa
Laval s gasket specialists have created a data base
comprising all available information on rubber and
gasket materials. The computerized data base has
been created in order to provide customers with infor-
mation that is as precise as possible. It responds to
questions regarding the media in the heat exchanger
and the pressure and temperatures to which the gasket
will be exposed. The data base then immediately
generates recommendations for appropriate gaskets.

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