Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
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Top Seals Articles
Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
Most shaft seals are typically placed in bores made of steel, cast iron or other common ferrous metallic material. These ferrous, or iron-containing materials, are compatible with both metal cased and rubber covered seals.
Couplings play a critical role in wastewater processing. Take a look at how one wastewater facility combated coupling failure from exposure to UV radiation.
Proper installation and adjustment can make the difference between the success and failure of a packed pump. By keeping in mind the fine points of a few key principles, the chances of success are greatly increased.
Advances in diamond are bringing the well-known properties of the world's hardest material to mechanical shaft seals. Diamond has long been sought after as a seal face material because of its unsurpassed hardness, high thermal conductivity, chemical inertness and low friction. Due to the processing limitations of synthetic diamond, however, early applications were relegated to abrasives and tooling that do not require the same high quality surface finishes and tolerances as those found in mechanical shaft seals.
Changes in the pump media, pressure, temperature and even the decision to opt for longer pump maintenance cycles can all affect pump performance. In these cases, physical changes to the pump's elastomer seals can be used as a diagnostic tool to provide early warning of problems.
Latest Seals Articles
Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
The next generation of materials where pumps meet mechanical seals may already be here in polymeric composites. The pump and mechanical seal industries just need to recognize, define and standardize these materials to realize their benefits.
Boiler and Pressure Vessel code contains rules for the design and construction of unfired pressure vessels. The design of bolted flanges requires that gasket constants referred to as m and y be used in the calculation.
In the past, there were two ways to seal a pump: the mechanical seal method or the compression packing set. Either choice was subject to potential leakage and/or hidden costs. For compression packing users, pump leakage has become so widely accepted that many companies have focused on better ways to divert the leakage rather than eliminate the leaks.
It is easy to confuse graphite fiber packings with carbon fiber packings. In fact, the terms carbon fiber and graphite fiber are often used interchangeably, even by packing manufacturers. Both products are used to manufacture braided packings, and they both have relatively good chemical and temperature resistant properties. But there are differences, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Columns and Blogs
In this multi-part series, we will investigate several aspects of centrifugal pump efficiency.
First of Five Parts
Since the original publication of this draft standard in the January 2008 issue of Pumps & Systems, I have received feedback, encouragement, numerous questions and criticism. The draft listed three basic levels of repair.
The McGraw-Hill scientific dictionary [5] states that a volute is "a spiral casing for a centrifugal pump... designed so that speed will be converted to pressure."
