Blog
- December 05, 2023
PTFE Resins Commonly Used in Seals
In this article, we’ll look at the fillers employed in PTFE resins.
In its virgin form, PTFE resin isn’t the best sealing material for dynamic shaft applications. Therefore, different fillers are added to achieve the desired results. The most common fillers are fiberglass, graphite, carbon, coke flour and molybdenum, although any filler can be added to virgin PTFE resin as long as the material can withstand maximum sintering temperature of 710-730 degrees F.
In order to develop lip seal products properly from PTFE resins, it is vital that the engineer understands the favorable and unfavorable characteristics of the resin.
Several characteristics and properties of PTFE resin must be considered to realize a reliable product. They are:
- High wear rate of the PTFE resin and/or mating surface when improper fillers are used for a specific set of operations.
- PTFE resins have a high thermal expansion rate and compressive
- November 30, 2023
Bottling lines allow manufacturers to rapidly fill thousands of bottles perfectly making them a key element in food & beverage manufacturing facilities. While this equipment is incredibly efficient and has allowed manufacturers to greatly increase production, it offers some unique challenges for sealing solutions. Seals experience rapid and repetitive movements, challenging media, and are required to meet high purity standards often set by the FDA.
With these demanding applications and strict requirements, sealing manufacturers need a lot of expertise and specialized materials/ designs. Today we are going to highlight our Distributor Fredenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies and their brand of Freudenberg seals designed specifically for bottle filling and process industry applications.
- November 27, 2023
STAMP - Remember this for Gasket Selection Criteria
When you're specifying a gasket for even the simplest application, it is important that the gasket supplier know all the operating parameters.
There are five major pieces of information needed to select the appropriate gasket, known by the acronym S.T.A.M.P.:
Size:
While gaskets are most often used in standard ANSI flange connections
- November 21, 2023
Hardware Recommendations - Static O-Ring Gland Design
What is an O-Ring Gland?
The O-Ring gland (also known as O-Ring groove) is a very important design feature for anufacturing both efficient and cost-effective O-Rings.
The most important consideration for gland design is that it allows for proper and complete compression between the groove and the mating surface. While the shape of the O-Ring relies and depends on the application, shape is generally unimportant. The groove can be a variety of shapes; anything from triangular, rectangular, or dovetail.
- November 20, 2023
Pump Diaphragms Made from Elastomers
Pumps that operate with a diaphragm have been in use since the mid-1800s because of their simplicity and effectiveness.
That isn’t to say these pumps have remained unchanged in all that time. More than 150 years of innovation and technical improvements in diaphragm profiles and elastomeric material sciences have secured their use for a wide range of pumping and reciprocating applications.
The design and utilization of diaphragms in pumping applications is a vast topic, yet it is one that Gallagher Fluid Seals’ application engineers have mastered by approaching the manufacturing and design of diaphragms with a step-by-step process.
- November 17, 2023
Vesconite in Load Haul Dump Machines
The leading global copper producer has achieved exceptional results through the implementation of Vesconite Hilube wear-resistant bushings on load haul dump machines (LHDs).
Departing from traditional bronze bushings, the mining company’s adoption of Vesconite Hilube on Sandvik and Caterpillar LHD booms has led to an unprecedented increase in bushing lifespan, exceeding their initial expectations.
Previously, the company relied on bronze bushings and had a mere 1.5 months of operational life. Vesconite Hilube bushings were introduced in December 2022, with an initial goal of extending bushing life to three months.
The remarkable reality, however, has far surpassed this objective, as the Vesconite Hilube bushings have endured for an impressive nine months and counting.
This transformation has been particularly significant, with the Vesconite Hilube bushings fitted to 30 LHD booms in 2023, and only one instance of a boom
- November 15, 2023
Customer Overview
World leading manufacturer of level measurement technology. Their key product lines support RF admittance level instrumentation as well as ultrasonic, hydrostatic, radar, and magnetostrictive instrumentation
Customer Problem
Gallagher’s customer required a custom-sized grommet made from Kalrez® perfluoroelastomer material, but had specific cold temperature requirements
How Gallagher Got Involved
The customer worked with Gallagher on a variety of seal applications in years past with great success, requiring both design and engineering expertise
- November 09, 2023
Back-Up Rings
Back-up rings serve an important role in world of seals. While the design principle and construction are incredibly simple, they greatly extend the usefulness of the most common and prolific sealing device in the world: the O-ring.
Back-up rings are aptly named as they do just that: they back-up an O-ring.
Back-up rings are commonly nothing more than a ring of polymer meant to space the O-ring away from the extrusion gap in hardware. By blocking off the extrusion gap, the pressure-handling ability of an ordinary O-ring is greatly increased.
Solid or split back-up rings out of virgin PTFE can usually be found on the shelf, and are largely considered commodity items.
- November 08, 2023
SUREBAND MARINE by Flangeguards
Flangeguards' newest product, SUREBAND Marine, is specifically designed for oil applications in marine environments. SUREBAND Marine addresses the most common flange sizes within oil and marine applications; a total of 139 size configurations are available to cover your flanges.
The smart alternative to single use ANTI-SPLASH tape.
SUREBAND-Marine is designed specifically for SOLAS (Safety of Life
- November 03, 2023
From the outside, an elastomeric expansion joint looks to simply be made out of molded rubber. Part of the reason expansion joints are used in such a wide variety of applications is that the interior construction of a joint can be custom-designed to handle your specific application - materials of construction will depend on size, temperature, application, media, pressure (S.T.A.M.P.).
Layers of Construction
Tube
- Synthetic or natural rubber forms seamless, leak-proof lining
- Extends fully through bore to outer flange edge
- Common materials include chlorobutyl, neoprene, natural rubber, EPDM, Viton* and Hypalon*