Session: CT-01-01 Design and Analysis of Bolted Flange Joints

Paper Number: 60521

Start Time: Thursday, July 15, 2021, 09:00 AM

60521 - Statistical and Lifetime Characterization of PTFE Materials for Extreme Environments 

Most industrial manufacturing or process plants use bolted connections to transfer media from one location to another. Gaskets are often used to seal these systems as they offer high levels of leak mitigation; however, despite their nearly universal usage, testing done on gaskets has been fairly limited. Historically, while industrial applications use gaskets at various temperatures and pressures, load retention tests have been conducted at a set temperature, time duration and compressive stress and report the result as load lost or retained.  They do not account for longer time periods, the characteristics of the load loss over time or internal pressure the gasket is sealing. This current study seeks to change that. Traditional flat gaskets at thicknesses of 1/16” and 1/8” are leveraged against novel textured PTFE gaskets in order to compare load retention behavior across a range of styles. Different filler materials are tested as well, from aluminosilicate microspheres to barium sulfate and silica. Some design of experiments (DOE) methods are applied in order to characterize the factors that are most responsible for the load relaxation response of any particular type of gasket. A parameter from a previous study, efficiency, is used as an overall metric to quantify gasket performance. Furthermore, overall gasket deformation is examined in order to validate the statistical findings. Lastly, an empirical equation is presented that may be able to characterize gasket behavior across multiple loading and environmental conditions, as well as estimate the residual load carrying capacity of a gasket.

Presenting Author: Sannmit Shinde University of Central Florida

Authors:

Sannmit Shinde University of Central Florida
Meghan Kenny UCF
Dominic Devito UCF
Ali Gordon UCF
Paul Nichols Garlock Sealing Technologies
Jim Drago Garlock Sealing Technologies
Ming-Hang Yang Garlock Sealing Technologies
Zachary Poust Garlock Sealing Technologies