For daily purposes, gaskets are merely indispensable. Hence, it makes total sense when one thinks of having a gasket that can withstand variable fluctuations in pressure and temperature. It should also survive in situations such as flange rotation, adequate creep and bold stress relaxation, optimum flexibility and much more. This is where a spiral wound gasket comes in handy. These types of gaskets are usually manufactured in a combination of a pre-formed engineered strip of metal and a filler material; both of which must be alternating each other. In doing so, the design offers an excellent seal at the time of being compressed. In fact, the metal strip has been shaped such that it looks more like a loaded spring and that is a resilient one, under diverse situations.
Meant for multiple purposes
The spiral wound gaskets or SWGs are usually meant to fulfil a number of tasks, particularly in piping systems all over the world. Besides this, their cost is the bare minimum and stands out for extreme durability and flexibility. Another plus factor is that the use of it is not limited to any pressure class. The shape has also been made such to resist blowouts. On account of these and more, the industry has assigned the tag of ‘fire safe’ gasket to this one.
Many however make a mistake of assuming that all spiral wound gaskets are the same, which is not so. It is primarily owing to metal quality, filler quality (like thickness, grade, density), machine-made or not that is capable of controlling pressure and tension on gasket winding; all of which are strong determiners of the differences in the quality of gaskets.
Common styles of gaskets used
Ideally, there are three standard styles of spiral wound gaskets, which are as follows:
- Style D: This consists of only a sealing element (D), meant for several applications and variable conditions.
- Style DR: This one has only a sealing element (D) and a centring ring (R), which is more of an external body that centres gasket on a primary flange face and functions as a compression stop.
- Style DRI: This has a sealing element (D), the centring ring (R) and the inner ring (I), which helps the gasket to stay protected from any form of corrosive substance and high temperature and pressure (usually inward buckling happens for the latter).
Benefits and applications are aplenty
The fact that spiral wound gaskets have been made so rigidly is why stability is supreme. Also, their designs have equipped the gaskets to withstand the extreme level of exhaustion without showing any dip in performance.
For the ideal sealing solutions in heat exchangers, utility holes, boiler hand-holes and flanged joints, this is the type of gasket that one should choose over anything else. The make is such that any form of toxin or corrosion is taken in very well by this gasket.
One can browse through the different companies that stock these items like Specialist Sealing Products and thereby make the right purchase. It is only after using one will come to know the key reasons behind its immense popularity.
