12/8/2019 Gasket - Wikipedia

Gasket
A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more
mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects
while under compression.

Gaskets allow for "less-than-perfect" mating surfaces on machine parts where

they can fill irregularities. Gaskets are commonly produced by cutting from
sheet materials.

Gaskets for specific applications, such as high pressure steam systems, may
contain asbestos. However, due to health hazards associated with asbestos
exposure, non-asbestos gasket materials are used when practical.[1]

It is usually desirable that the gasket be made from a material that is to some
degree yielding such that it is able to deform and tightly fill the space it is
designed for, including any slight irregularities. A few gaskets require an
application of sealant directly to the gasket surface to function properly.
Some seals and gaskets
Some (piping) gaskets are made entirely of metal and rely on a seating surface
1. o-ring
to accomplish the seal; the metal's own spring characteristics are utilized (up to
2. fiber washer
but not passing σy, the material's yield strength). This is typical of some "ring
3. paper gasket
joints" (RTJ) or some other metal gasket systems. These joints are known as R-
4. cylinder head gasket
con and E-con compressive type joints.[2]

Contents
Properties
Gasket design
Sheet gaskets
Solid material gaskets
Spiral-wound gaskets
Constant seating stress gaskets
Double-jacketed gaskets
Kammprofile gaskets
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) gasket
Fishbone Gaskets
Flange gasket
Improvements
Reasons for failure
Uneven distributed pressing force
Stress relaxation and torque loss
Surface not smooth
See also
References
Sources
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Properties
Gaskets are normally made from a flat material, a sheet such as paper,
rubber, silicone, metal, cork, felt, neoprene, nitrile rubber, fiberglass,
polytetrafluoroethylene (otherwise known as PTFE or Teflon) or a plastic
polymer (such as polychlorotrifluoroethylene).

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
better gasket performance. One of the more tried and tested is: "The more Compressed fiber gasket
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 tests. Most manufacturers of gasket materials will provide or publish the results of
these tests.

Gasket design
Gaskets come in many different designs based on industrial usage, budget, chemical contact and physical parameters:

Sheet gaskets
When a sheet of material has the gasket shape "punched out" of it, it is a sheet gasket. This can lead to a crude, fast and
cheap gasket. In previous times the material was compressed asbestos, but in modern times a fibrous material or matted
graphite is used. These gaskets can fill various different chemical requirements based on the inertness of the material
used. Non-asbestos gasket sheet is durable, of multiple materials, and thick in nature. Material examples are mineral,
carbon or nitrile synthetic rubber. Applications using sheet gaskets involve acids, corrosive chemicals, steam or mild
caustics. Flexibility and good recovery prevent breakage during installation of a sheet gasket.[3]

Solid material gaskets

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; because metals are primarily used, process
contamination and oxidation are risks. An additional downside is that the metal used must be softer than the flange — in
order to ensure that the flange does not warp and thereby prevent sealing with future gaskets. Even so, these gaskets have
found a niche in industry.

Spiral-wound gaskets

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Spiral-wound gaskets comprise a mix of metallic and filler material.[4] Generally, the gasket has a metal (normally carbon
rich or stainless steel) wound outwards in a circular spiral (other shapes are possible) with the filler material (generally a
flexible graphite) wound in the same manner but starting from the opposing side. This results in alternating layers of filler
and metal. The filler material in these gaskets acts as the sealing element, with the metal providing structural support.

These gaskets have proven to be reliable in most applications, and allow lower clamping forces than solid gaskets, albeit
with a higher cost. [1] (https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=spiral+wound+gaskets&id=8C264F3FFBAA6AC593C155
D7075E811633CDF20F&FORM=IQFRBA)

Constant seating stress gaskets

The constant seating stress gasket consists of two components; a solid carrier ring of a suitable material, such as stainless
steel, and two sealing elements of some compressible material installed within two opposing channels, one channel on
either side of the carrier ring. The sealing elements are typically made from a material (expanded graphite, expanded
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), vermiculite, etc.) suitable to the process fluid and application.

Constant seating stress gaskets derive their name from the fact that the carrier ring profile takes flange rotation (deflection
under bolt preload) into consideration. With all other conventional gaskets, as the flange fasteners are tightened, the
flange deflects radially under load, resulting in the greatest gasket compression, and highest gasket stress, at the outer
gasket edge.

Since the carrier ring used in constant seating stress gaskets take this deflection into account when creating the carrier
ring for a given flange size, pressure class, and material, the carrier ring profile can be adjusted to enable the gasket
seating stress to be radially uniform across the entire sealing area. Further, because the sealing elements are fully confined
by the flange faces in opposing channels on the carrier ring, any in-service compressive forces acting on the gasket are
transmitted through the carrier ring and avoid any further compression of the sealing elements, thus maintaining a
'constant' gasket seating stress while in-service. Thus, the gasket is immune to common gasket failure modes that include
creep relaxation, high system vibration, or system thermal cycles.

The fundamental concept underlying the improved sealability for constant seating stress gaskets are that (i) if the flange
sealing surfaces are capable of attaining a seal, (ii) the sealing elements are compatible with the process fluid and
application, and (iii) the sufficient gasket seating stress is achieved on installation necessary to affect a seal, then the
possibility of the gasket leaking in-service is greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.

Double-jacketed gaskets
Double-jacketed gaskets are another combination of filler material and metallic materials. In this application, a tube with
ends that resemble a "C" is made of the metal with an additional piece made to fit inside of the "C" making the tube
thickest at the meeting points. The filler is pumped between the shell and piece. When in use, the compressed gasket has a
larger amount of metal at the two tips where contact is made (due to the shell/piece interaction) and these two places bear
the burden of sealing the process. Since all that is needed is a shell and piece, these gaskets can be made from almost any
material that can be made into a sheet and a filler can then be inserted.[5]

Kammprofile gaskets
Kammprofile gaskets are used in many older seals since they have both a flexible nature and reliable performance.
Kammprofiles work by having a solid corrugated core with a flexible covering layer. This arrangement allows for very high
compression and an extremely tight seal along the ridges of the gasket. Since generally the graphite will fail instead of the

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metal core, Kammprofile can be repaired during later inactivity. Kammprofile has a high capital cost for most applications
but this is countered by long life and increased reliability.

Fishbone Gaskets
Fishbone Gaskets are direct replacements for Kammprofile and Spiralwound gaskets. They are fully CNC machine
manufactured from similar materials but the design of the gaskets has eliminated inherent short comings. Fishbone
gaskets do not unwind in storage or in the plant. The rounded edges do not cause flange damage. The added "Stop Step"
prevents the Fishbone gaskets from being over compressed/crushed, often caused by hot torque techniques on plant start
up. The bones of the gasket remain ductile and adjust to thermal cycling and system pressure spikes resulting is a durable
and reliable flange seal that out performs all other gaskets of this nature significantly.

Flange gasket
A flange gasket is a type of gasket made to fit between two sections of
pipe that are flared to provide higher surface area.

Flange gaskets come in a variety of sizes and are categorized by their

inside diameter and their outside diameter.

There are many standards in gasket for flanges of pipes. The gaskets for
flanges can be divided in major 4 different categories:
Copper flange gaskets used for ultra-high
1. Sheet gaskets vacuum systems
2. Corrugated metal gaskets
3. Ring gaskets
4. Spiral wound gaskets
Sheet gaskets are simple, they are cut to size either with bolt holes or without holes for standard sizes with various
thickness and material suitable to media and temperature pressure of pipeline.

Ring gaskets also known as RTJ. They are mostly used in offshore oil- and gas pipelines and are designed to work under
extremely high pressure. They are solid rings of metal in different cross sections like oval, round, octagonal etc. Sometimes
they come with hole in center for pressure .

Spiral wound gaskets are also used in high pressure pipelines and are made with stainless steel outer and inner rings and
a center filled with spirally wound stainless steel tape wound together with graphite and PTFE, formed in V shape.
Internal pressure acts upon the faces of the V, forcing the gasket to seal against the flange faces. Most spiral wound gasket
applications will use two standard gasket thicknesses: 1/8 inch and 3/16 inch. With 1/8 inch thick gaskets, compression to
a 0.100 inch thickness is recommended. For 3/16 inches, compress to a 0.13 inch thickness[6].

Improvements
Many gaskets contain minor improvements to increase or infer acceptable operating conditions:

A common improvement is an inner compression ring. A compression ring allows for higher flange compression while
preventing gasket failure. The effects of a compression ring are minimal and generally are just used when the
standard design experiences a high rate of failure.
A common improvement is an outer guiding ring. A guiding ring allows for easier installation and serves as a minor
compression inhibitor. In some alkylation uses these can be modified on Double Jacketed gaskets to show when the
first seal has failed through an inner lining system coupled with alkylation paint.

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Reasons for failure

Uneven distributed pressing force

Uneven pressure can be caused by a variety of factors. First is the human factor: asymmetric application of the bolt
preload, this can cause uneven pressure. Theoretically when the flanges are pressed, the sealing surfaces are absolutely
parallel, in practice however, the centerline of a pipeline cannot be absolutely concentric, and tightening the bolts on the
flange moment makes the flange a discontinuity. With asymmetric connections, the seal surfaces will be more or less
deformed and the pressure reduced, the running load, prone to leakage. Third, the density of bolt arrangement has an
obvious impact on the pressure distribution, the closer the bolts, the more uniform the pressure.

Stress relaxation and torque loss

Tighten the bolts on the flange. Due to vibration, temperature changes, and other factors such as spiral wound gasket
stress relaxation, the bolt tension will gradually decrease, resulting in loss of torque, causing a leak. In general longer bolts
and smaller diameters of bolt are better at preventing the loss of torque. A long thin bolt is an effective way to prevent
torque loss. Heating for a certain period of time to stretch the bolt, and then maintaining a given torque, is very effective in
preventing the loss of torque. When the gasket is thinner and smaller there will be a greater loss of torque. In addition,
prevent strong vibration of the machine and the pipe itself, and isolate them from adjacent equipment vibration. Impacts
on the sealing surface are not meaningless. Not impacting the tightened bolts can prevent the loss of torque.

Surface not smooth

It is important to make the sealing finish properly otherwise it will cause leakage. A surface that is too smooth can allow
your gasket material to blow out under pressure. A surface that is not machined flat can provide leak paths. A good rule of
thumb is a machined surface to 32RMS. This insures the surface is flat, but with enough surface finish to bite into the
gasket under compression.

See also
Other materials for sealing joints in plumbing

Oakum
Plumber's putty
Thread seal tape (plumber's tape)
O-ring
Ozone cracking
Polymer degradation
Vacuum flange
Washer (mechanical)
Wills Ring

References
1. "Gaskets and Gasketed Joints (https://books.google.com/books?id=Ff9hYbzy5CYC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=all+ab
out+gaskets&source=bl&ots=SH_vEneZCe&sig=LiAGJD7wm_93pweKfYIs517USIU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4l-
6Pq6DMAhVBPj4KHW5QC2YQ6AEIaTAK#v=onepage&q&f=false)", John Bickford, Retrieved April 21, 2016
2. oceaneering.com (http://www.oceaneering.com/subsea-products/grayloc/)
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3. "Material Spotlight Series: Compressed Sheet (http://www.gasketresources.com/blog/material-spotlight-series-compre

ssed-sheet)", GRI, Retrieved April 21, 2016
4. "Spiral Wound Gaskets (http://www.gasketresources.com/spiral-wound-gaskets)", GRI, Retrieved April 21, 2016
5. "[asmedigitalcollection.asme.org Revisiting Gasket Selection: A Flowchart Approach -- Updates for the 25th
Anniversary]", Anita Bausman and A. Fitzgerald Waterland, Retrieved April 21, 2016
6. "How to Choose the Right Semi-Metallic Gasket" (https://www.gallagherseals.com/blog/choose-the-right-semi-metallic
-gasket/). Gallagher Fluid Seals.

http://www.gasketing.net

Sources
Bickford, John H.: An Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Joints, 3rd ed., Marcel Dekker, 1995, pg. 5
Latte, Dr. Jorge and Rossi, Claudio: High Temperature Behavior of Compressed Fiber Gasket Materials, and an
Alternative Approach to the Prediction of Gasket Life, FSA presented Paper, 1995, pg. 16

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