Properties of Neoprene Gasket Material

28 March 2018

Neoprene, a versatile synthetic rubber, is a tolerant material. Used in gaskets, this well-established polymer retains its fluid-sealing characteristics when a fluid turns hot. It’s physically and mechanically stable, abrasion resistant, equipped with a handy flame retardant feature, and the rubber won’t break down in the presence of a petroleum-based fuel. That’s an attractive list of material traits. Neoprene gaskets obviously deserve more coverage, so let’s get going.

Deconstructing Neoprene Gasket Materials 

Polychloroprene, also known as Neoprene, is ozone resistant, so expect to find this material in use in sealing products in outdoors applications. In automobiles and vehicles with superbly sealed fuel lines, there we find the polymer, faithfully generating a strong fluid seal. Chemically adept, the synthetic rubber also offers a -40°C to 121°C spread of temperature handling pliability. As long as the application stays inside that tolerance range, the selected Neoprene gasket will compress and seal. Accordingly, these rubber rings are commonly used in heater elements, air conditioners, freezers, and many other thermally active situations.

Conforms to Other Surfaces 

This is a singularly beneficial feature, a material trait that suits the roughest surfaces. To put it another way, Neoprene gaskets are physically tough yet unusually yielding. When the seal is fitted between two surfaces, it will instantly adjust its outlines to match the underlying flange face, even when those surfaces are raised or formed from special locking profiles. As a ring of fasteners bears down on the polymer, it compresses readily without ever surrendering that inbuilt quantity of elasticity. Viewed from a fabrication engineer’s perspective, those key properties dovetail neatly back at the production factory, for this material is a work-friendly commodity. Die shaped or water cut, Neoprene gaskets roll off the production line in their thousands every day because of that workability quality.

Neoprene Versus All The Rest 

Here’s a gasket material that hits the exact centre of the industry sweet spot. The synthetic is ozone resistant, although perhaps not as sun-friendly as EPDM. Meanwhile, Neoprene is a better option for oil and fuel resistant utilization. Additionally, the -40°C to 121°C temperature range covers practically every imaginable subzero and water-boiling scenario. This rubber is also remarkably dense. It’s simply not a permeable polymer, so Neoprene is commonly employed in the medical industry, perhaps as a series of peristaltic pump seals.

All-purpose by design, Neoprene gaskets are thermally stable and fuel friendly. They compress readily while conforming to complex raised flange faces. In plain English, this material, when it’s used as a sealing medium, can suit many possible applications, at least until those thermal/compression ratios reach exorbitantly high extremes. At that point, it’s time to consider an alternative synthetic rubber.

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