If a smaller O-Ring gasket ends up in the beefy hands of an installer, it’s hard to ignore that slight form. How can this seemingly trivial system component ever hope to provide sealing strength? Well, for starters, this sealing component has more geometry than a conventional gasket. It’s shaped like an emaciated doughnut, but looks can be deceiving.

The Secrets of O-Ring Gasket Strength 

In truth, that geometry, the torus-like structure of it, is designed to deform uniformly when it’s placed into its cavity. Gaskets act similarly, but the compressive forces applied to those rings moves linearly along one dimension, perhaps two if we incorporate flange twisting forces. Squeezed into its companion gland channel, the flexible O-Ring material compresses equally and in every direction.

Primary Installation Tips 

Going on the above passage, the first piece of advice is to ensure the rubberized ring is properly inserted into its matching cavity. Remember, the rubber is designed to be compressed radially during the installation phase. If it fits loosely, then this isn’t the right O-Ring for the job. Similarly, the diameter of the uniformly shaped band should be slightly smaller than that cavity, because the flexible material is meant to be stretched as it’s fitted.

Material Selection 

When the cross-sectional area issue and ring diameter problems are sorted, the loop of rubber fits snugly. But does the material ring come equipped with the right fluid-handling specs? Chemical attacks are likely, temperature extremes are probable, and pressure variables certainly can’t be ignored. Select an elastomer, a silicone, neoprene, nitrile, or other fluid compatible material that will endure when it’s assaulted by any or all of these fluid forces.

Understand Application Tolerances 

O-Rings can be used in static applications or in systems that employ dynamic fluid pressures. Select a product accordingly, one that fits a fixed flange or a dynamically capable variant that can conceivably function in a system that uses reciprocating cylinders. Next, avoid cross-sectional rolling. If the application does use an awkwardly located gland channel, then the installer may end up twisting or kinking the ring when it’s being fitted. Always avoid O-Ring twisting.

Check the work after the fitting is coupled. Is there an extrusion protruding from the channel? Undo the pipe, replace the O-Ring, and try again. Last of all, do understand the different elastomers, the alternate ring application usage spheres, and the knock-on effects on each and every equipment type. Is this pneumatic equipment? Is there a reciprocating cylinder riding behind the O-Ring? Essentially, this fitting is indeed slight, but its geometry and material base will operate efficiently as long as the fluid conditions and ring specifications correspond.

A pause in the narrative is on the cards, at least for this post, while we tender a structured engineering guide. Intended to function as a gasket material and application guide, the following article will list, in alphabetical order, many popular and not so popular gasketing materials and their roles in different applications. After each material, a description of its properties and commonly assigned usage areas will be listed, too.

Cellulose-Based Paper 

Used for relatively low-pressure applications, places where the fluid temperature won’t exceed 120°C, this specially coated paper is saturated with a plasticized compound. It acts as a petroleum, solvent, and oil jointing medium. Expect to find paper gaskets in engine, pump, lubrication, and fuel system joints.

Cork Gaskets 

Again, here’s a material that performs best in low temperature and low-pressure applications. As such, this highly compressible natural substance is best employed as an oil and petroleum sealing product. It’s installed in fuel lines, designed to contain higher pressures than paper, and cork is also a naturally wear resistant gasketing solution.

Elastomeric Materials 

Perhaps filled with the most comprehensively capable catalogue of different material types, there are thousands of different plastics and rubbers available. There’s EPDM, a popular cooling system option and a plastic that’s often found performing at its best in chemical processing facilities. If that aggressive fluid load strengthens, then turn to Viton or Teflon, which both have robust fluoroelastomer-based backbones.

Fibre-Based Seals 

From high-pressure aramid fibres to equally capable fibreglass gaskets, this material category covers a vast number of applications. Aramid seals, for example, can easily tolerate 825°C of fluid heat. Then there are cellulose and vulcanized fibres, carbon fibres and more. They retain dimensional stability, even when they’re exposed to large compressive forces. Fibre-based seals are oil, petrol, pressure, and temperature resistant, depending on their exact composition.

Metal-Strengthened Gaskets 

When the pressures carried in a fluid line reach unendurable levels, carbon steel or titanium-based rings hold back those formidable forces. They’re used along with other material inserts to seal heat exchangers, boiler pipes, massive arrays of high-pressure pumps, land-crossing oil pipelines, and in other large-scale, off-the-chart industrial applications.

This guide contains a fraction of the materials and applications that rule countless commercial and industrial usage domains. Sure, these are the mainstays, the elastomers and fibres that serve these areas best, plus they can blend with each other to form even more usable composite products, but there’s more to check out. There are felt and sponges, products that perform better in vibration-prone or food-safe environments, for instance. Without a doubt, there’s a gasket for every application, and it’s up to the engineer-in-charge to match a gasket material, plus its geometry, with the correct application.

Whether you are working with automobiles or plumbing components, it is important to have the proper gaskets on hand for your project. Finding gaskets to buy can be as simple as heading to your favourite search engine. With that being said, you won’t find quality gaskets without going to a reputable gasket manufacturer. The big question we have for our readers is this: what makes for an ideal gasket manufacturer? Today, we are going to highlight the qualities that you need to look for when shopping around for a gasket manufacturer. With our advice, you’ll be able to find the right team to provide you with the right components for your project.

Important Qualities in a Gasket Manufacturer

While there are numerous gasket manufacturers all vying for your business, there are very few that can combine the traits required in order to give you the products you need at a cost you can afford without sacrificing any service. Here are the traits that we believe make for the best gasket manufacturers. Read the following qualities and use them as a guideline as you begin shopping for your gaskets.

1) Excellent Customer Service – Leading the charge is our focus on quality customer service. In the service industry, it is absolutely imperative that companies focus on making their customers feel both welcome and appreciated. Here at Gasketech, we are well known for our focus on customer service. Every point of contact between our employees and our customers is an important one.

2) Superior Technical Performance – We aren’t solely focused on customer service because it is also important for the actual gasket product itself to be of premium quality. That is why we believe in purchasing from manufacturers who offer products with superior gasket performance. From graphite and PTFE to Viton products, Gasketech is here for you.

3) Product Availability – Customer service and superior products only work if you have access to the products when you are ready to make a purchase. It is important for all great gasket manufacturers to have a large catalogue of quality products that they can dip into in order to provide their customers with quality components.

4) Customer Satisfaction – Finally, we believe that all gasket manufacturers should be willing to stand by a customer satisfaction guarantee. After all, you are calling on us in your time of need so it is only right that we respond with great products and customer service.

For all of your gasket manufacturing needs, contact Gasketech. We provide excellent products at an affordable price, all based around your needs and schedule.

Heavy-duty industrial piping systems require equally robust gaskets, so says engineering science. Look deep, the larger than life tubular conduits are conveying higher volumes, which are held at stunningly high pressures. Meanwhile, acids and harsh chemicals are attacking the pipe seals. To keep these forces safely in check, an aptitude for optimizing a chosen gasket, one designed to counterbalance these challenges, is considered a gold standard engineering strength.

Considering Torque Parameters 

Mechanics don’t throw new tyres on cars and begin indiscriminately tightening the ring of fasteners until they seem tight. Likewise, gasket installation procedures require special approaches. Torque charts are viewed and studied. Sequential bolt tightening patterns are applied all around the pipe flanges. Frankly, industrial piping is off-the-scale massive, so the adoption of these two load distributing practices will make sure the flange faces couple evenly with the interceding gasket.

Designed to Match Known Fluid Characteristics 

And just how many seal impacting forces are in play? Pipe geometry and dimensions are inherent, of course, so large cross-sectional areas incur larger fluid volumes. Then there are the properties of the fluid medium, which will directly influence gasket design. Low temperatures aren’t as material-abrasive as higher thermal loads. Still, ultra-low temperatures will cause brittleness and seal fractures. Then there are super concentrated acids and caustic chemicals to address. At the end of the day, industrial piping systems require gaskets that can handle extreme mechanical loading effects. Moreover, they must incorporate a material build that won’t fail when one of the above fluid characteristics tries its abrasive best to break down the selected gasket.

A Three-Factor Guide to Industrial Gasketing 

Material design is essential when we’re working with systems of industry-capable piping. However, material density isn’t the only relevant metric, so let’s skip up another rung on the gasketing applications ladder. Material suitability, as evaluated during the fluid medium management phase, is impacted by mechanical extremes, so traditional elastomeric solutions may not be enough. Composite material, fluoroelastomers, and fibrous substitutes operate alongside special laminates and metals to solve such issues. Factors one and two, therefore, are the material and mechanical features of the chosen gasket. Factor three, the dimensions of the seal, calls into action torque and bolt fastening patterns.

As a fourth gasket design and selection factor in industrial piping systems, we add Man’s influence. Preventative maintenance programs dovetail with gasket performance studies to assess the seal’s capabilities in specific operational case studies. This way, gasket design engineers can fine-tune their product families and ingrain the best possible fluid-restraining parameters into those essential flange sealing rings.

Expanded PTFE, also known as ePTFE, is a compressible gasketing material. During production, it’s stretched into sheets, with heat acting as a form expansion facilitator. The process endows the sheets with a tightly organized microstructure, a synthetic fluoropolymer base that’s a lot stronger than it looks. Used as a purpose-designed gasketing solution, the microscopic voids create a soft, irregular surface that suits a broadened number of applications.

Expanded ePTFE: A Transformation Guide 

Before going any further, let’s expand that acronym. PTFE gaskets use Polytetrafluoroethylene as chemically resistant and heat tolerant seals. Elevating the material range, ePTFE physically “expands” the synthetic polymer. During the production phase, the already durable gasketing stuff is exposed to mechanical stretching energy. Fabric-softening heat provides the second structure-transforming ingredient. It’s here that the PTFE transitions, it opens up physically and assumes a web-like structure, which is filled with countless voids.

Loaded with Material Properties 

Solid fluoropolymer nodes stretch into interconnected matrices. The expanded sheets are soft to the touch, and they’re very compressible. That’s a characteristic that any gasketing application can utilize. Moreover, this spongelike form is chemically obdurate, plus it can tolerate 250°C of baking hot heat or -240°C of arctic frost. To make gaskets that can take advantage of those twin properties, the rough and irregularly formed polymer base is layered into laminate strips. Now, with the ePTFE gasket positioned on a pipe flange, thousands of pounds of pressure can be applied. And, with the super-durable base matter capable of resisting the most caustic mediums, the seal won’t fail, not even when a chemical load flows with harsh corrosive impact.

Common Applications for Expanded PTFE 

Conforming to match the most geometrically intricate flange faces, all while displaying a superior strength-to-weight ratio, ePTFE gaskets are mechanically robust, yet they seem deceptively soft. Expect to see this attribute employed specifically in heat exchanger technology. Over at a high-pressure, highly acidic chemical processing plant, the expanded material is working flat-out to endure high pressures while it also packs a chemical-shielding punch. Food processing complexes or solvent-based production plants, the tough fluoropolymer-based gasketing solution will reliably generate a formidable seal.

Expanded PTFE is available as laminated gaskets or as gasket tape. The polymer base does feel deceptively soft and weak, but this sponge-like form conceals a strong matrice-exploded microstructure. Capable of enduring massive quantities of compressive flange-face stress, the seals will quickly conform to the desired seal profile while maintaining the features listed above. Look for glass-lined ePTFE products if even more sealing performance is called for from this synthetic gasketing solution.