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Contents
1 Properties
1.1 Gasket design
1.2 Sheet gaskets
1.3 Solid material gaskets
1.4 Spiral-wound gaskets
1.5 Constant seating stress gaskets
1.6 Double-jacketed gaskets
1.7 Kammprofile gaskets
1.8 Flange gasket
2 Improvements
Properties
Gaskets are normally made from a flat material, a sheet such
as paper, rubber, silicone, metal, cork, felt, neoprene, nitrile
rubber, fiberglass, polytetrafluoroethylene (otherwise known
as PTFE or Teflon) or a plastic polymer (such as
polychlorotrifluoroethylene).
One of the more desirable properties of an effective gasket in
industrial applications for compressed fiber gasket material is
the ability to withstand high compressive loads. Most
industrial gasket applications involve bolts exerting
compression well into the 14 MPa (2000 psi) range or higher.
Compressed fiber gasket
Generally speaking, there are several truisms that allow for
best gasket performance. One of the more tried and tested is:
"The more compressive load exerted on the gasket, the longer it will last".
There are several ways to measure a gasket material's ability to withstand compressive loading. The "hot
compression test" is probably the most accepted of these tests. Most manufacturers of gasket materials
will provide or publish the results of these tests.
Gasket design
Gaskets come in many different designs based on industrial usage, budget, chemical contact and physical
parameters:
Sheet gaskets
The premise is simple in that a sheet of material has the gasket shape "punched out" of it. This leads to a
very crude, fast and cheap gasket. In previous times the material was compressed asbestos, but in modern
times a fibrous material such as high temp graphite (http://macrosealinc.com/high-temperature-graphitegasket-materials/) is used. These gaskets can fill many chemical requirements based on the inertness of
the material used and fit many budgetary restraints. Common practice prevents these gaskets from being
used in many industrial processes based on temperature and pressure concerns.
Spiral-wound gaskets
Spiral-wound gaskets comprise a mix of metallic and filler material. Generally, the gasket has a metal
(normally carbon rich or stainless steel) wound outwards in a circular spiral (other shapes are possible)
with the filler material (generally a flexible graphite) wound in the same manner but starting from the
opposing side. This results in alternating layers of filler and metal. The filler material in these gaskets acts
as the sealing element, with the metal providing structural support.
These gaskets have proven to be reliable in most applications, and allow lower clamping forces than solid
gaskets, albeit with a higher cost. [2] (http://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=spiral+wound+gaskets&id=8C264F3FFBAA6AC593C155D7075E811633CDF20F&FORM=IQFRBA)
Double-jacketed gaskets
Double-jacketed gaskets are another combination of filler material and metallic materials. In this
application, a tube with ends that resemble a "C" is made of the metal with an additional piece made to fit
inside of the "C" making the tube thickest at the meeting points. The filler is pumped between the shell
and piece. When in use the compressed gasket has a larger amount of metal at the two tips where contact
is made (due to the shell/piece interaction) and these two places bear the burden of sealing the process.
Since all that is needed is a shell and piece, these gaskets can be made from almost any material that can
be made into a sheet and a filler can then be inserted. This is an effective option for most applications.
Kammprofile gaskets
Kammprofile gaskets are used in many older seals since they have both a flexible nature and reliable
performance. Kammprofiles work by having a solid corrugated core with a flexible covering layer. This
arrangement allows for very high compression and an extremely tight seal along the ridges of the gasket.
Since generally the graphite will fail instead of the metal core, Kammprofile can be repaired during later
inactivity. Kammprofile has a high capital cost for most applications but this is countered by long life and
increased reliability.
Flange gasket
A flange gasket is a type of gasket made to fit between two
sections of pipe that are flared to provide higher surface area.
Flange gaskets come in a variety of sizes and are categorized
by their inside diameter and their outside diameter.
There are many standards in gasket for flanges of pipes. The
gaskets for flanges can be divided in major 4 different
categories:
1. Sheet gaskets
Improvements
Many gaskets contain minor improvements to increase or infer acceptable operating conditions:
A common improvement is an inner compression ring. A compression ring allows for higher flange
compression while preventing gasket failure. The effects of a compression ring are minimal and
generally are just used when the standard design experiences a high rate of failure.
A common improvement is an outer guiding ring. A guiding ring allows for easier installation and
serves as a minor compression inhibitor. In some alkylation uses these can be modified on Double
Jacketed gaskets to show when the first seal has failed through an inner lining system coupled with
alkylation paint.
Temperature
Flanged leak often occurs in the cooling, because the cooling rate of cooling when the flange and bolts do
not After cooling, the pressing force of the metal gaskets stress relaxation, combined with the cold
contraction of the pipe, resulting in toward the bolt tensile direction force, this force will lead to leaks in,
where the low-temperature media occasions when gasket should be noted: 1) low temperature flexible
gasket; 2) shim thickness should be as much as possible to take a small flange gap as small as possible ; 3)
high strength bolts, so that the strain is small.
See also
O-ring
Ozone cracking
Polymer degradation
Vacuum flange
Washer (mechanical)
Sources
1. ^ [1] (http://www.oceaneering.com/subsea-products/grayloc/)
1. Bickford, John H.: An Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Joints, 3rd ed., Marcel
Dekker, 1995, pg. 5
2. Latte, Dr. Jorge and Rossi, Claudio: High Temperature Behavior of Compressed Fiber Gasket
Materials, and an Alternative Approach to the Prediction of Gasket Life, FSA presented Paper, 1995,
pg. 16
External links
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gasket&oldid=640238189"
Categories: Seals (mechanical) Engine technology