Gaskets

A gasket is a mechanical seal that fills the space between two objects, generally to prevent leakage between the two objects while under compression. Gaskets save money by allowing less precise mating surfaces on machine parts which can use a gasket to fill irregularities. more...

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Gaskets are commonly produced by cutting from sheet materials, such as gasket paper, rubber, silicone, metal, cork, felt, Neoprene, fiberglass, or a plastic polymer (such as polychlorotrifluoroethylene). Gaskets for specific applications may contain asbestos. It is usually desirable that the gasket be made from a material that is to some degree compressible such that it tightly fills the space it is designed for, including any slight irregularities.

Properties

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. 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. Most manufacturers of gasket materials will provide or publish these results.

Gasket Design

Gaskets come in many different designs based on industrial usage, budget, chemical contact and physical parameters. The main types of gaskets are Sheet, Solid Material, Spiral Wound, Double Jacketed and "Kammprofile".

Sheet Gaskets

Sheet Gaskets are by the far the cheapest option for gaskets. The premise is simple in that a sheet of material, in older situations compressed asbestos now generally a fiberous material such as graphite, has the gasket shape "punched out" of it. This leads to a very crude, fast and cheap gasket. These gaskets can fill many chemical requirements based on the inertness of the material used and fit many budgetary restraints. Common practise prevents these gaskets from being used in many industrial processes based on temperature and pressure concerns.

Solid Material Gaskets

After Sheet Gaskets solid material gaskets are the most cost-effective option. The idea behind solid material is to use metals which cannot be punched out of sheets but are still cheap to produce. These gaskets generally have a much higher level of quality control than sheet gaskets and generally can withstand much higher temperatures and pressures. The key downside is that a solid metal must be greatly compressed in order to become flush with the flange head and prevent leakage. The material choice is more difficult since it is primarily metals used so process contamination and oxidiation are real time concerns, also the metal used must be softer than the flange in order to insure that the flange does not warp and prevent sealing with future gaskets. Even so these gaskets have found a place in industry although not a large one.

Read more at Wikipedia.org