Avoid Issues in Gasketing by Choosing Quality Sealants

Gasket sealants function as jointing support mediums. Basically, if a gasket lacks seal integrity, a pasty compound is applied to its rubber or fabric surface to offset such material shortcomings. In a way, sealants supplement or augment the fluid proof barrier that forms between a flange face and a jointing medium. The substance creates a leak-proof, malleable insert. Of course, that feature relies on the utilization of a premium quality sealant.

Malleable Compounds Fill Leak Pathways

There’s a balancing act to perform when selecting a suitable gasket. On the one hand, the material has to be slightly elastic. It’s malleable so that it’ll compress when the flange bolts are tightened. However, the material must also hold its shape. It’ll compress but retain its dimensions, thin out but not deform. Consequently, if the material isn’t pliable enough, it won’t conform to every irregular outline in and around a flange face. A scratch, a near-invisible flange surface depression, such defects can cause major problems. Even a minor score mark could have dire consequences. After a pipe joint is bolted down, high pressures and higher temperatures attack the flanges and gasket. The beginnings of a leak path form, then a blowout event occurs after the pipe section has been in service for a few short weeks. By coating gaskets in a hard-setting but slightly elastic sealant, these leak pathways are immediately eliminated.

Quality Sealants Are Immune to Fluid Threats

So, how’s a chosen paste expected to perform after a high-pressure pipe joint is made? Ultimately, it’ll fill in any hard to detect flaws on a gasket, plus all of the scratches and surface imperfections on the flanges, too. If the compound is elastic, it augments the gasket’s own compressibility rating. Moreover, the cured paste will deliver a measure of chemical and heat resistivity. On the outside, should the sealant be exposed to a local environment, it won’t freeze and crack in the winter, nor will the substance harden when UV rays beat down on the joint. In other words, gasket sealants mechanically and chemically mirror the qualities that are already present on gaskets, but the substance is initially installed as a paste or a liquid. If a gasket has imperfections, then the sealant compensates for those product shortcomings.

Designed to fill in flange imperfections and potential gasket leakage pathways, these high-quality sealants augment and correct seal integrity. They apply as pasty fluid, then cure into elastic compounds that are every bit as resilient as a physical gasket. Granted, not every project requires the aid of a sealant, but these anaerobic compounds are there nonetheless to provide a secure, leak-proof joint barrier.