Although the word “fiber” is often used to describe sheet gasket material, fiber gasket material is a very broad category. In this blog post we’ll explore what types of material count as “fiber” and when and why you might want to use them. Hennig Gasket & Seals is gasket material suppliers of all types.
Two Main Categories of Fiber Material
“Fiber” can refer to vegetable fiber gasket material, or to sheets composed of fibers bound in an elastomeric matrix. Each provides varying levels of the temperature and chemical resistance, strength, and conformability needed in a good gasket, but there are differences between them. What’s more, within each category there are many variations of composition.
In addition, “fiber” can also mean ceramic fiber or cellulose-based gasket material. Those are quite specialized and won’t be covered here, but if you’re interested in them the specialists at Hennig Gasket can help.
Vegetable Fiber Gasket Material
This material is made by a similar process to papermaking. Plant material is crushed and pulped to leave a mass of fibers. These are spread and dried as sheets.
Vegetable fiber gasket material, often referred to as “Detroiter” material, is very thin and has good dielectric properties. It’s resistant to water, air and most fuel oils, as well as gasoline and benzine. Adding cork to the mix results in a thicker, more compressible material.
Compressed Fiber Gasket Material
This is made by mixing aramid fibers in an elastomer like NBR or SBR, then rolling it into sheet form. Aramid is a contraction of aromatic polyamide, which is a high-strength synthetic polymer. (One of the tradenames it goes by is Kevlar.)
In gasket applications aramid supplies strength and temperature resistance while the elastomeric binder provides compressibility. Manufacturers tailor the material to specific gasket applications through elastomer selection and by varying the amount of aramid used.
Compressed fiber gasket material offers strength, good compressibility, and creep-resistance. Chemical resistance depends on the type of elastomer incorporated. As gasket material suppliers of a wide range of compressed fiber gasket material from well-known manufacturers like Garlock, Klinger, UTEX, Flexitallic and JM Clipper, we have the material to accmodate your application needs.
