Regular geometrical shapes dictate conventional gasket design. We see them fabricated as circular and ovoid seals, the strong rubberized inserts that complete the meeting of two regular surfaces. Of course, there are situations where such sealing strategies fall short. These specialised applications call for made-to-measure solutions, which is where customised gaskets enter the project as tailor-made seals.

Unique Designs for Customised Gaskets

Imbued with custom-fit features, one-off gaskets are hand cut and laser cut, die stamped and water-jet shaped, all so that a customer can receive a seal that precisely integrates within the geometrical outlines of an irregularly configured joint surface.

Material Selection as a Science

Versatile engineering departments are well-versed in the craft of selecting the right synthetic seal for a specific application. What’s required is knowledge of the transported fluid and all environmental conditions within and around the joint. Heat and pressure are two common issues here, but a custom solution reinforces the stressed component. Specifically manufactured seals add tailored material attributes to uncommonly overextended settings.

Common Dimensional Attributes Begin Here

Customers can relay shape requirements when they vary beyond normal constraints. After all, a circular form is easy to customise because a cutting tool can be quickly programmed to account for diameter changes, but this approach won’t work with complex geometrical outlines. One solution is to make a scaled drawing of the uncommon shape when submitting the project. CAD drawing software also works, as bolt holes and arcing shapes can easily be added into an irregularly described gasket when computer software is employed.

Evaluating Uncommon Requirements

If the shape of a gasket is as fluid as the medium being transported through a specific joint, then there may be other unique requirements. Rubberized seals are the standard material, one that varies finitely to accommodate environmental conditions, but there are also metal variants, plus a whole catalogue of flange face sealing aids. Perhaps the seal needs to deliver non-magnetic characteristics, or there’s a need for a compressible material, then that same soft seal may need to be reinforced with a special non-magnetic mesh, all the better to equip the gasket with composite toughness.

When talking about customised gaskets, the shape of the seal and the joint surface is the first variable we entertain. It’s a consideration that effects workshop tooling, obviously, but fabrication methods must also be assessed. We accommodate these design goals by partnering shape with material properties, thus creating a design strategy that offers full-package customization.

When sophisticated electronic modules are housed in dry control rooms, we know the gear is safe. Of course, sensitive circuits do exist outside of this refuge. It’s this scenario that causes our designers concern, for microchips can’t abide harsh environments. Thankfully, we can reinforce plainly fastened electronic’s housings with rubber gasket seals in electronic assemblies. Here’s how this is done.

Rubber Gasket Seals in Electronic Assemblies

If a box full of electronic circuitry is to be mounted in an environmentally challenging locale, a standardized enclosure won’t work. Even if we’re just referring to a regular outdoor setting, rainwater would eventually work its way into the box and destroy the microcircuitry. Instead, we use a rugged enclosure and outfit it with strong rubber gaskets. The lid is sealed with this gasket, as are the egress points where the wiring enters the box.

The Sealing of Submerged Electronics

The next wet environment is far more challenging. Imagine a pump or sensor package located down a deep well. The digital innards inside the pump measure the depth of the water. Meanwhile, the sensors conduct a test on the chemical components suspended in that water. Other electronic devices sink below the water line to work on marine vessels. Submerged as these housings are, they need to be rated to handle water pressure and turbulence. Temperature changes may be part of this environment, which would certainly be the case in a steamy boiler room, so the seals also need to compress without experiencing the expansion/contraction effects we associate with certain polymers.

The science of Ingress Protection

Electronic assemblies use these special enclosures to guarantee dry operability. The tiny currents running through the fine tracks work in concert with microprocessors and digital processing subsystems to monitor tiny changes within massive mechanical assemblies. The IP rating ensures these circuits are fully segregated from the chaos that’s going on outside. Please refer to this resource for more information on the critically important international IP Rating standard. Basically, the first number describes dust protection, while the second digit relates to liquids. Scaling from 1-through-8, an IP88 rating would be fully dustproof and waterproof, thus ready for installation in an abrasive quarry or a submerged environment.

The polymers used in these applications must conform to the housing, the access panel, and any gaps where wiring is to be routed. Additionally, rubber gasket seals in electronic assemblies must be fabricated so that they compress uniformly without giving into moisture, temperature extremes, or harmful chemicals.

Gasket design can’t be limited by a generic shape, not when flange outlines muddy the waters by diverging in form. There are currently three common faces that require specialised flange face gaskets, of which we’ll begin with the basic flat faces family. After chronicling the planar profile, we’ll hop across to raised face flanges. Finally, we’ll conclude with ring-type joint faces.

Common Flat Faces Dominate Flange Design

In order to strengthen the seal between two fluid-conveying mechanical sections, shaped flanges must be partnered with matching flange face gaskets, the reinforced rings that support the uniquely contoured surfaces of the joint-strengthening mechanical asset. A flattened flange adopts a planar form so that the bolt ring and contact zone are on the same level. The gasket is seated flush against these interior plate sections, thus ensuring the flange mates evenly.

Raised Face Flanges Deliver Concentrated Contact Force

When the gasket area is machined so that it’s raised above the bolt circle, then compressible force is focused on that contact area. This feature enables a diverse range of gasket types to be employed within this reduced cross-sectional area. They include spiral wound and double jacketed gaskets, sealing types that function best when used in chemical processing plants and highly toxic production facilities. Mated raised face flanges are easy to identify because an initial glance fools an observer into believing a gap exists between the faces. A closer look reveals the ring of bolts surrounding the contact area while the external edges of the flanges are spatially free but subject to enhanced fastener compression.

Ring-Type Joint Faces

Called into service when specialised sealing applications arise, this flange type uses a proprietary oval and octagonal configuration, a groove surface contact area that requires the two facing surfaces to wedge together and create a tightly secured joint. Used in high-temperature and high-pressure industrial scenarios, the flanges are finely machined to guarantee initial line contact, so the accompanying gasket is also made from an alloy-reinforced material. In doing so, the mating surfaces wedge together in such a way as to generate a “microfine” joint. In effect, the soft metals weld together.

In flange engineering terms, flat faces are workhorse products, the full-contact champions that dominate most applications, but flange face gaskets don’t always favour a broad cross-sectional areal format, which is when ring-type joint faces and their ilk take over by focusing fastener pressure on a reduced contact zone, an area that requires metal gaskets and robust seals.

If flanges mechanically fasten sections of pipe together, traditionally by employing sets of stubby bolts, then gaskets are the leak-guarding inserts that make sure the two mating surfaces are fluid-proof. Of course, secure as this fastening configuration is, we’re still looking at discrete parts, and isolated parts are leak-susceptible. Let’s reinforce our understanding of this surface-mating action by taking a look at the common causes of gasket failure so that we can deliver a pipeline that’s guaranteed to remain leak free over its entire processing life.

The Common Causes of Gasket Failure Include

We begin with the characteristics of the conveyed fluid. A chemically active facility processes caustic materials. Condensed and distilled until the substance is extremely corrosive, poorly manufactured gaskets will deteriorate and eventually succumb to wear, thus allowing the fluid to seep through the damaged gasket. The same potential for failure exists in scenarios where high pressures and higher temperatures imbue the fluid with unprecedented amounts of energy.

Mechanically-Induced Leakage Events

System vibrations are generated by machinery. Resonating tremors are mechanically transmitted along metal frameworks and pipes. The result is a slackening action, a scenario where once secure nuts and bolts loosen. The tight union between the two flange surfaces gives way, perhaps imperceptibly, until gasket compression is lost and the seal springs a leak. The thermal events covered above also contribute system-detrimental effects, with metal parts expanding and contracting until, again, the flange fasteners slacken.

Avoid Unintelligent Installation Practices

This situation introduces elements from both of the paragraphs covered above. Material science has intelligently manufactured a wide range of polymer-reinforced gaskets, but this means the right material has to be paired with the right application. A chemically resistant material interfaces with a chemical processing plant, a heatproof variant is installed in a heat exchanger assembly, and so on. If the wrong product is installed, expect trouble. The same case applies in mechanically-dominant settings. If the two flanges don’t properly align, for example, then loading is applied unequally and the gasket isn’t uniformly compressed, which opens the joint to a potentially devastating leakage event.

The common causes of gasket failure are many, but, once evaluated, we can quickly incorporate safeguards. The flanges and the fasteners are engineered to eliminate the majority of surface flaws, even the intrusion of corrosion due to cathodic effects. Then, upon proper installation, our final responsibility is to insert geometrical-assured outlines that are material-assessed to ensure they fit their application.

Most engineering labels submit to a little common sense. We can even take shortcuts by splitting the term up and tackling each word, one at a time. That’s not going to work here, unfortunately, so let’s get to the meat of the matter and skip the preamble; gasket material traceability isn’t a phrase that will easily divulge its secrets to this simple shortcut, not unless we have a ready-to-submit description.

What is Gasket Material Traceability?

First of all, before attempting to solve a terminological puzzle, we should take this opportunity to emphasize the essential functions of a gasket. Pipes carrying pressurized steam are only as strong as the material inserted between flange surfaces, for instance. Similarly, the same principle applies to automotive systems and larger vehicles, to high-pressure mechanical power transmission assemblies and other scenarios where these mechanical seals are absolutely required. A traceability feature, one added to a gasket, provides material reinforcement, but it’s a virtual form of reinforcement. The code or documentation associated with the seal acts as a biography, one that forms a thread-like bond all the way back to the manufacturing plant where the component was initially fabricated.

Traceability as a Compliance Mechanism

In attaching a train of detailed logistical transactions, we can chronicle the gasket and gain an insight into its construction. Quality assurance is an upshot of this strategy, as is a close-up of the raw materials used in the fabrication process. Lot and batch control often partners this asset, which only serves to underscore the importance of this mechanically-oriented biographical data. Used for recalls, quality assurance documentation, and for supplier/manufacturer relationships, a gasket material traceability program guarantees an informed engineer always has access to an up-to-date source file of all gasket materials and the manufacturing chains used in the fabrication process.

How Important is Traceability?

If the source of a critical component, especially a gasket, is cut out from this long chain of events, then there’s no way to assess the quality of the product. Risks increase because the sandwiching layer between two flanges is suddenly perceived as a weak link. The paperwork attached to the seal helps, of course, but only a properly stamped traceability code can safely guarantee function as it relates to a current application.

Gaskets should always have an attached history, one that’s indelibly and physically bonded to the seal. Once deciphered, it can be traced through multiple supply chains, all the way back to the fabrication workshop and the original source material.