POWER June 2022 - 28

PLANT SUPPLIES
Gaskets and Fasteners:
What Sets a Supplier Apart?
Gaskets and fasteners are vital to plant reliability and efficiency. While basic nuts,
bolts, and gaskets haven't changed much over the years, some of the materials
used in them have evolved and designs have been enhanced in many ways. However,
sometimes what really makes the difference between success and failure is if you
can get what you need, when you need it.
Aaron Larson
G
askets and fasteners have been
around long before you and me,
and they're sure to be around
long after we're gone. Some of the
first gaskets were made from pieces of
rope called oakum, which, I guess you
could say, was better than nothing. In
the mid-1800s, the development of vulcanization
allowed rubber to become a
more common gasket material. By the
early-1900s, the proliferation in the use
of asbestos in products of all types extended
to gaskets, as the material was
highly resistant to heat, wear, alkalis
and acids, as well as having great flexibility-all
desirable properties for longlasting
sealing systems.
You won't find many oakum or asbestos
gaskets being installed these days,
but rubber is still pretty common, albeit
much different from the types used a
century ago. Asbestos has actually been
banned in 67 countries, according to the
International Ban Asbestos Secretariat,
including
in
all
Organisation
for Economic
Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries except Costa Rica,
Mexico, and the U.S. Even China has
banned asbestos.
After it became widely recognized that
asbestos increases the risk of several
serious diseases, including asbestosis,
mesothelioma, and lung cancer, many
materials manufacturers began in earnest
to develop alternatives to asbestos.
With a wealth of resources behind them,
they were largely successful. Today,
compressed non-asbestos materials are
available that consist of non-asbestos fibers,
such as fiberglass or aramid fibers,
combined with rubber. This formulation
has proven to have very good temperature
and pressure performance.
Gasket Types and Materials
There are dozens of different gasket ma28
terials
available to meet engineering design
specifications for almost any power
plant system. The following are some of
the broad gasket types that exist:
■ Closed-cell sponge rubber materials.
■ Compressed non-asbestos.
■ Cork.
■ Electrical insulation.
■ EMI/RFI shielding (electromagnetic
interference and radio-frequency interference
shielding).
■ Felt.
■ Fiber.
■ Flexible graphite (Figure 1).
■ Foam.
■ High-temperature materials.
■ Open-cell sponge rubber materials.
■ Plastics.
■ Rubber molding compounds.
■ Rubber.
Among the common materials used in
some of the types listed above are: Butyl,
Cellulose, Chomerics, Cloth-Inserted,
EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer),
Flexitallic, Formex, Grafoil, HDPE
(High-Density Polyethylene), Hitex, Hypalon,
Latex, LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene),
Mylar, Neoprene, Nitrile, Nomex,
Nylon, Phenolic, Polyester, Polyurethane,
PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), PVC
(Polyvinyl Chloride), Silicone, UHMW
(Ultra High Molecular Weight), Urethane,
Vinyl, Viton, Wool Felt, and others.
It's often best to consult with an expert
to determine the best gasket material
to use in a given application. Several
factors must be evaluated to ensure the
material chosen is appropriate for the intended
purpose. Some of the key considerations
are:
■ Temperature. What temperature range
must it withstand?
■ Pressure. What pressure range must
it withstand?
www.powermag.com
1. Flexible graphite gasket properties include
resistance to corrosion against a wide variety
of acids, alkalis, and salt solutions; organic
compounds; and heat transfer fluids, even at
high temperatures. Courtesy: Lamons
■ Media. What fluids or materials will it
be exposed to? Are they abrasive or
corrosive?
■ Ultraviolet and ozone exposure. Will it
be exposed to sunlight and ozone?
■ Product standards. Is it subject to
any industry-specific product requirements?
Does it need EMI shielding
properties?
■ Industry standards. Is it subject to any
other industry-specific standards?
Material Suppliers
While there are multiple reasons a gasket
might need to be replaced, the most
common is after a system or component
has been disassembled for maintenance.
That's when having a reliable supplier
that can provide the gasket you need,
when you need it, is critical. One company
that's relatively new to the power
industry but has been providing gaskets
to the energy industry for 75 years is
Lamons. It began distributing gaskets
and bolts to the oil, gas, and petrochemical
industries in 1947.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas,
Lamons has grown into one of the largest
privately held gasket, seal, bolt,
and hose assembly manufacturers in
the world with 21 locations. Lamons
POWER | June 2022
http://www.powermag.com

POWER June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER June 2022

POWER June 2022 - Intro
POWER June 2022 - Cover1
POWER June 2022 - Cover2
POWER June 2022 - 1
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POWER June 2022 - Cover3
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