Gaskets and Seals

This article is about mechanical seals. For fractals, see Apollonian gasket and Sierpinski gasket; for the nautical term see gasket (sailing).

Some seals and gaskets
1. o-ring
2. fiber washer
3. paper gaskets
4. cylinder head gasket

A gasket is a mechanical seal that serves to fill the space between two objects, generally to prevent leakage between the two objects while under compression. Gaskets are commonly produced by cutting from sheet materials, such as gasket paper, rubber, silicone, metal, felt, fiberglass, or a plastic polymer. Gaskets for specific applications may contain asbestos. It is usually desirable that the gasket be made from a compressible or slightly compressible material such that it tightly fills the space it is designed for, including any slight irregularities.

One of the more desirable properties of an effective gasket in industrial applications for compressed fiber gasket material is the ability to withstand high compressive loads. Most industrial gasket applications involve bolts exerting compression well into the 14 MPa (2000 psi) range or higher. Generally speaking, there are several truisms that allow for best gasket performance. One of the more tried and tested is: "The more compressive load exerted on the gasket, the longer it will last". There are several ways to measure a gasket material's ability to withstand compressive loading. The "hot compression test" is probably the most accepted of these. Most manufacturers of gasket materials will provide or publish these results.

See also

• Washer (mechanical)

Sources:

1. Bickford, John H.: An Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Joints, 3rd ed., Marcel Dekker, 1995, pg. 5
2. Latte, Dr. Jorge and Rossi, Claudio: High Temperature Behavior of Compressed Fiber Gasket Materials, and an Alternative Approach to the Prediction of Gasket Life, FSA presented Paper, 1995, pg. 16

Look up seal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Seal or SEAL may refer to:

• Seal (device), a device used to produce an official stamp as a symbol of authority, or the impression left by a seal in sealing wax, clay, etc. (Origin: Latin sigillum = "small symbol", a diminutive of signum)
• Seal (mechanical), a device to contain pressure, or exclude contamination from an enclosure: derived from the previous in its role to fasten an official document shut.
• Pinniped, a large marine mammal (origin: Anglo-Saxon seolh).
• Seal (musician), a British soul singer, who has released three eponymous albums: (Seal (1991 album), Seal (1994 album), Human Beings (1998), Seal (2003 album) and Seal Best of Album.
• Seal, Kent, a village in Kent, England (origin: probably Anglo-Saxon sēale = "copse of sallow-trees").
• U.S. Navy SEALs, special forces of the United States Navy (origin: acronym from "SEa, Air, Land").
• Semantics-directed Environment Adaptation Language), a computer programming language.
• SEAL (cipher), a cryptographic cipher.
• HMS Seal (N37), a submarine of the Royal Navy.
• 'The Original Nintendo Seal Of No Quality', a running joke in Nintendo Official Magazine UK
• Seal. shemales rock(color) is a color.