Spiral wound gaskets are designed to withstand extreme temperatures, pressures, and chemical exposures. The metal strip provides structural support and resilience, while the filler material ensures sealing effectiveness. These gaskets are ideal for flange connections in pipelines, valves, pumps, heat exchangers, and other industrial equipment where reliable sealing is crucial. They offer excellent resistance to thermal cycling, mechanical stress, and corrosive environments, making them suitable for a wide range of applications in industries such as oil refining, chemical processing, power generation, and offshore drilling.
A spiral wound gasket consists of three elements:
1. Outer ring: This outer ring is sometimes called the centring ring or guide ring. It’s used to centre the gasket when you insert it into a bolted flange joint.
2. Inner ring: The inner ring is pivotal for the gasket because it prevents windings from buckling inside the pipe. When a gasket buckles, parts of it get sucked into the pipe. From there, pieces of the gasket will typically flow through the pipeline until they get caught on something. Often, they’ll get wrapped around rotating equipment like a pump. The mess that results is known as a “bird’s nest.” Inner rings help you avoid this problem.
3. Sealing element: As you might guess from the name, the sealing element creates the seal that prevents leaks. A sealing element encompasses both windings and filler material. Most spiral wound gaskets in oil and gas refineries will use a flexible graphite filler material rated for high temperatures. A flexible graphite filler also allows the gasket to be more tolerant of flange distortion and joint misalignment. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is another common filler material. PTFE is not rated for high-temperature applications, however. Meanwhile, most winding materials in refineries will be stainless steel and monel.
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Spiral Wound Gasket Markings
