Spiral Wound Gasket
What is a Spiral Wound Gasket?
A spiral wound gasket is a type of gasket or sealing device used in industrial applications to create a tight seal between two flat surfaces or flanges. These gaskets are designed to withstand varying pressures, temperatures, and operational conditions in a wide range of industrial applications, such as piping systems, tanks, and equipment used for transporting liquids, gases, or steam.
Key features of spiral wound gaskets include:
Spiral Construction: Spiral wound gaskets are made up of two primary components: a thin metal strip (typically made of materials like stainless steel) wound in a spiral pattern and a filler layer (usually a non-metallic material like asbestos, PTFE, graphite, or mica). The metal strip is wound in a spiral pattern and placed between layers of filler, creating a strong yet flexible construction.
Sealing Ability: These gaskets are designed to provide a reliable seal even on imperfect or uneven flange surfaces. Spiral wound gaskets can adapt to surface imperfections on the flange to prevent leaks.
Pressure and High-Temperature Resistance: Spiral wound gaskets can withstand high pressures and extreme temperatures, making them suitable for applications in the oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, and other industries.
Material Compatibility: The choice of materials for the metal strip and filler layer can be customized to suit the specific fluid or gas being sealed, ensuring compatibility with various types of media.
Various Sizes and Standards: Spiral wound gaskets are available in various sizes and can conform to different standards, such as ANSI, DIN, or ZELL, making them widely usable worldwide.
It is important to select the appropriate type of spiral wound gasket based on the specific requirements of your application, including temperature, pressure, media type, and flange size. These gaskets are commonly used in industrial environments that demand a high level of safety and sealing integrity to maintain the integrity of piping systems and equipment.
Section Spiral Wound Gasket.
Like other pipe components, spiral wound gaskets have several parts, the following is an explanation.
- Outer Ring (Outer Ring / Circle)
This part is made of carbon steel or stainless steel which functions to center the gasket when attached to the flange connection. Usually, the outer ring is also referred to as a centering ring or guide ring.
- Inner Ring
This part is very vital in spiral wound gaskets because it serves to prevent blockages that occur in pipes. When the gasket is bent, the parts are sucked into the pipe. If it has been sucked in, the gasket pieces will usually flow through the pipe until they get caught on something. This situation is known as a “bird’s nest”. This is the job of the inner ring to resolve the blockage.
- Sealing Element
As the name implies, the sealing element can create a seal that can prevent seepage. This element includes windings and filler material. Filler material for sealing treatment is usually divided into two materials, namely graphite and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
How to Choose Spiral Wound Gasket
After getting to know the parts of spiral wound gaskets and being interested in buying them, it’s time to know how to choose the right and quality ones.
- Adjust Material to Industry
As mentioned earlier, for those who work in the oil and gas industry, graphite filler is a suitable choice for spiral wound gaskets because it has a material that can withstand high pressure and temperature. Meanwhile, for other types of industries that flow high acid or alkaline fluids, you can choose PTFE filler. Customize the gasket material so that it can optimally support pipeline construction.
- Check the Quality Management System
When choosing spiral wound gaskets, check the manufacturer or supplier you choose. Check whether their quality management system is trusted and genuine or not. Because every product certainly has an official global standardization for smooth industrial operations.
- Check Other Indicators
As previously explained, the sealing function of spiral wound gaskets is to prevent gaps that occur due to defects or uneven connection of two components. For that, pay attention to several other indicators, starting from the surface of the gasket which must be uniform, the texture between the appropriate layers, and the absence of defects due to melting around the gasket. Also, the surface of the gasket is the absence of defects, stains, interference, and looseness in the part between the sealing and the ring.
Also pay attention to how the selected gasket works. The way to check is to do a compression ratio test. The higher the gasket resistance, the better the quality. This resistance can be seen from the standardization written on the gasket or can also consult with the buyer.
Apart from applying the three methods above, you can also ask the supplier or manufacturer directly to ask for spiral wound gaskets according to your needs.
