High Performance Polymer Seals and Gaskets
Super Seals can help you reduce costs by preventing sealing failures, extending maintenance intervals, handling more aggressive fluids and high temperatures, increasing safety and meeting stringent environmental regulations. Super Seal high performance polymers are available in silicone, coated polymers and fluoroelastomers. Silicone has the ability to retain its rubber-like properties through a wide range of temperatures. It can be compounded to perform for extended periods at -150° to 500°F. Actual service life at a given temperature will vary with such application demands as continuing flexibility, shrinkage restrictions, etc. Silicone rubber will maintain its elastomeric properties almost indefinitely at moderately elevated temperatures. Silicone generally does not have high tensile strength. However, much of its inherent tensile strength is retained at very high temperatures. Silicone has excellent radiation resistance and can be easily formulated to be both conductive and non-conductive. When properly fabricated, silicone does not stain, corrode or in any way adversely affect materials with which it comes in contact. Many silicones have been exposed to outdoor weathering for 15 years with no significant loss of physical properties. This demonstrates unique resistance to temperature extremes, sunlight, water, ozone and other gases.
Conventional silicones have been classified as slow burning.
This is achieved through the use on non-halogen producing flame-retardants, which eliminate the production of corrosive or toxic byproducts. Consequently, the amount of smoke generated during combustion is significantly less than that given off by most organic elastomers. In general, longer service life, along with less maintenance and repair over the service life span, frequently make silicone rubber lower in total cost than competitive materials. Silicone is the elastomer of choice for a broad range of high performance applications.
Silicone Strengths:
Silicone Limitations:
Fluoroelastomer coated silicone, EPDM or nitrile can overcome these limitations by protecting the surface with a chemical and corrosion resistant coating.
