Often underappreciated but vital to thousands of machines and household appliances, rubber gaskets help make our everyday life possible. They seal our refrigerator doors to keep food fresh; they keep ammunition protected from moisture; they help build bridges. What is a rubber gasket and how is it used in all of these applications? Well, it is a mechanical seal that is used primarily to prevent leaks of gas or liquid, but can be used as a barrier between two objects, such as two metals or chemicals. They are often utilized as protection from outside elements as well. In a camera lens, they combat moisture and dust to ensure that the lens stays focused and speck free. Used in almost every industry, this fabricated rubber product is versatile and necessary for thousands of applications. There are rarely two applications that use the same shape or size gasket. Gaskets are made specific to each use and this makes this industry very unique!
1. Brush off any rust or foreign particles. Wipe flange surface thoroughly with a rag soaked in acetone or other suitable solvent to remove grease or oil. 2. Insert fingernail between the paper backing strip and the tape and strip the paper back three to six inches. Draw a reference line in flange and press squared off end of tape against it. 3. Now, start laying the tape along the face of the flange, peeling the paper backing as you go. To prevent the adhesive surfaces of the tape from doubling back on themselves and sticking together, strip away only a few inches of paper at a time.
Clean radius and straight cuts are achievable on gasket material with the proper tooling. Thinner types of gasket material require nothing more than sharp blades and hollow gasket cutters. Gasket material over 1/4-inch thick require specialized mechanical tools to create the precision cuts necessary to seal a piece of equipment and is best left to professionals. Properly securing the gasket material and ensuring the tools used are in good condition will allow you to cut thinner gasket material efficiently and precisely.
In the present seal, metal spiral wound gasket with excellent elasticity, high temperature, high pressure,low temperature and other characteristics, has become a very wide range of applied seal. Especially suitable for uneven loading, relaxation and easy access together, cyclical changes in temperature and pressure of the occasion, is the main flange gasket. In the petrochemical pipelines, mechanicalseals,shipbuilding,metallurgy, aerospace and other industries widely.
There are two major factors to be considered with regard to gasket seating. The first is the gasket material itself. The ASME Unfired Pressure Vessel Code Section VIII, Division 1 defines minimum design seating stresses for variety of gasket materials.
A seal is affected by compressing the gasket material and causing it to flow into the imperfections on the gasket seating surfaces so that intimate contact is made between the gasket and the gasket seating surfaces preventing the escape of the confined fluid. Basically there are four different methods that may be used either singly or in combination to achieve this unbroken barrier.
