PTFE

The term “plastics” is generic way of describing a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers. Organic polymers describes a man-made substance that is formulated using polymer chains to create what we commonly refer to as…(you guessed it), plastics.

Before plastic, leather had been used to create Backup ring devices behind O-rings. Leather allows fluids to be retained, providing lubrication for the O-ring when the system was running dry.

The problem with leather was that it could become dry and shrink away from the sealing service, exposing the elastomer to same pressure it was intended to protect against.

With the advent of polymers, a piece of plastic could be cut or formed into the exact shape to allow for zero extrusion gap, and for continued protection for the O-ring.

Some polymers were very brittle. Since they needed to be deformed to allow for installation into solid glands, the cut of the plastic could nibble at the O-ring, causing premature failure of the element it was supposed to be protecting.

The Revolution of PTFE

When PTFE moved out of the lab and into industrial use, it quickly found itself adjacent to the O-ring. PTFE offers extrusion resistance and, at the same time, doesn’t erode or nibble at the O-ring due to the “softness” of the polymer.(Hardness between 55 and 65 Shore D)

Given the composition of PTFE, or Teflon, it could be utilized as a sealing element to protect Backup rings and conform to the shaft. The bonus was it was generally easy on shafts (depending on the filler added to the PTFE).

There are some negative aspects to Teflon that needed to be overcome by early engineers. First, it has a fairly high rate of Thermal expansion which, by its own nature, could often times lose contact with the sealing surface. This meant some kind of loading was necessary to ensure contact.

PTFE is as tough as other polymers, so the fact that it could seal on a shaft made it vulnerable during installation for tears or nicks on sealing surface.

Second, if it were stretched during installation, the material had to be sized back to its original shape due to its poor elastic properties.

Better known as Teflon in the industry, Polytetrafluoroethylene is widely used in practically every industry on and off the planet (and even beneath its surface!)

Medical Uses

This material’s primary claim to fame is its resistance to most chemicals. It inherently has an extremely

The search for the ideal Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) gasket has been elusive. Competing applications and workplace variables have led to the creation of myriad solutions, yet none that has proven fully adaptable and appropriate for universal adoption.

Garlock Sealing Technologies considered this to be a critical yet entirely solvable shortcoming. And it is against this backdrop that in 2016, they set out to compile a comprehensive list of attributes for the ideal PTFE gasket — a wish list, as it were — in order to build a better gasket.

Working with a third-party survey development company, Garlock developed an exhaustive questionnaire that probed every aspect and functionality of PTFE gaskets, testing and adjusting the questions until they had a workable, finalized version.

Using this final questionnaire, Garlock conducted extensive interviews at 15 major chemical processor companies, speaking with 20 engineers responsible for process operations, projects, maintenance and reliability. The goal was simple: to discover the ideal characteristics and their relative importance that engineers sought in a PTFE gasket.

After several months of data collection, Garlock analyzed the feedback and noted the most popular responses:

• 28% of respondents said that they struggled with how different gaskets required different compressive loads and how to ensure that those gaskets had been installed properly
• 21% expressed frustration with the creep properties of PTFE gaskets
• 21% desired a gasket that seals with less compressive load
• 14% expressed frustration at the installation inconsistencies of their fitters
• 14% expressed frustration with leaking, especially after a successful installation and start-up

From those answers, Garlock drew the following conclusions, representing the most desirable and essential PTFE gasket characteristics:

• Seal: Seals easily
• Installation and assembly: Forgiving of poor installation or assembly practices
• Forgiving: Forgiving of poor flange conditions
• Retention: Maintains a seal after installation
• Flexible: Can be used in a broad range of services to avoid user confusion and reduce inventory

Introducing: GYLON EPIX

Garlock used this feedback in developing a next generation PTFE gasket — GYLON EPIX. Featuring a hexagonal surface profile, GYLON EPIX offers superior compressibility and sealing for use in chemical processing environments. Its enhanced surface profile performs as well or better than existing 1/16″ or 1/8″ gaskets, allowing end-users and distributors to consolidate inventory, lower the risk of using incorrect gasket thicknesses and reduce stocking costs.

GYLON EPIX checks off the most desirable gasket attributes:

• Installation and assembly: Even distribution of the bolt load over the contacted area of the gasket during the assembly process
• Retention: Retention of the bolt load administered at assembly
• Seal: Efficient translation of bolt load to sealing performance
• Forgiving: The ability to perform in imperfect flanges and installation conditions

GYLON EPIX with its raised, hexagonal profile allows it to perform the job of both traditional 1/16” and 1/8” gaskets. It accomplishes this by combining the bolt retention of the former with the forgiveness for bad flange conditions of the latter, a truly innovative feature for PTFE sheet gasketing.

Polymer wear rings were developed to offer an alternative to dissimilar metal wear rings.

One of the advantages to using a polymer material such as nylon or filled-Teflon instead of a metallic bearing . Whereas when you use bronze or metallic bushings, these materials are prone to point loading on the edges of the bearing.

This property of polymer bearings combined with solid lubricants can yield a product that is much less likely to damage moving components.

5 Advantages

When it comes to designing and developing seals, the aerospace and industrial industries need a basis to allow production anywhere in the world.

One of the first PTFE (Teflon) standards, AMS3678, describes Teflon and the addition of fillers. This was used in conjunction with Mil-R-8791, which is one of the Mil specs describing a backup ring device.

The origin of all these specs dates back to the creation of the O-ring.

The Origin of the O-Ring Patent

In 1939, Niels A. Christensen was granted a U.S. Patent for “new and useful improvements in packings and the like for power cylinders.” These referred to improved packing rings made of “solid rubber or rubber composition very dense and yet possessive of great liveliness and compressibility.” These products were suitable for use as packings for fluid medium pistons (liquid or air). The improved packing ring is the modern O-ring.

There was a progression of standards for the O-rings created by individual countries, such as AS568, BS 1806, DIN 3771, JIS B2401, NF T47-501, and SMS 1586. Eventually, AS568 became more accepted in the industry.

The backup ring was originally created to help improve the O-ring’s ability to resist extrusion. Teflon was widely used as one of the materials for backup ring devices. Standards were created to unify the production of this Teflon device.

The Progression of Mil Specs

The progression of standard changes has led to AMS3678/1 for Virgin PTFE through AMS3678/16. These standards describe a group of Virgin- and filled-PTFE materials accepted by the industry for manufacturing seals and back-up ring devices.

Mil-R-8791 was canceled in February 1982. This spec was superseded with AS8791, which eventually evolved into AMS3678.

AMS3678 is a tool used by customers and Teflon suppliers to create uniformity in the manufacturing and processing of seal and bearing materials. The standard is inclusive of most of the compounds upon which the industry was built.

When customers approach with an old “mil spec”, they are pushed to the new AMS spec which is currently active. Eclipse manufactures to the spec so their customers will have the confidence that they manufacture to a known standard.

When crossing custom materials from well-known sources, customers are driven to an accepted spec that is equivalent to the original source of the material. This helps customers sell their products with internationally-known materials rather than custom, home-grown compounds that are often intended to single source those materials.

There are several qualifications of the spec that suppliers must observe. This includes dimensional stability tests. This test ensures the material has been properly annealed, and that the seal or backup ring will fit and function as it was originally intended.

Eclipse is uniquely qualified to supply parts to the latest AMS3678 specification. They understand the scope of the specification which allows us to ship parts with fully traceable certification.

AMS3678 helps validate a material to a customer to ensure they get the same material processed the same way with each order. Beyond this, there are other ways to determine what makes a part process-capable.

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies introduced several new material and sealing innovations at the 2019 International Paris Air Show.

These new products are designed to help aerospace customers address ever increasing safety and performance requirements in the industry.

During the June 17-23 event in Paris, Freudenberg showcased a new high temperature, fireproof material; an Omegat OMS-CS cap seal; and new ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and a fluoroelastomer