Cloth Inserted Rubber Gasket Material

The most widely used elastomers are also available as cloth inserted rubber gasket material. This is where the rubber sheet incorporates one or more layers of fabric. Typically this is nylon but cotton, polyester and fiberglass are used too.

Cloth is added to rubber sheet for several reasons. It aids the addition of mechanical fixings like rivets, rings or fasteners, it counters the tendency of the material to creep sideways under compressive loads, and it increases tensile strength.

Cloth Inserted Rubber Gasket Material Specifications

Thickness:  1/16” to ¼”
Width:  48” Rolls, Sheets cut to your specification

Cloth inserted rubber gasket material is available in SBR, nitrile/Buna-N, neoprene, EPDM and Viton. Fabric plies are added at approximately one per 1/16” of rubber thickness, although this can vary between manufacturers and type of rubber.

The properties of cloth-inserted material are little changed from those of the base rubber, (other than higher strength.) Cloth-inserted neoprene for example retains good resistance to gasoline, oil and water and the same is true for nitrile. Likewise, cloth-inserted SBR continues to work well with steam and hydraulic fluids, (but not oil.)

Besides sealing, where the increased creep resistance helps extend gasket life, there are many applications for cloth-inserted material. These range from conveyor belts, (which take advantage of the increased tensile strength,) to welding curtains, and on a smaller scale, diaphragms in actuators, motors and valves.

Most cloth inserted rubber gasket material is produced in roll widths of 48”. Available thicknesses go from 1/16” to ¼”.  Sheets of cloth inserted gasket material are cut to your specifications.