Flexitallic's flying flange fighters
15 Jan 2000
Engineers from sealing company Flexitallic recently found themselves flying in to tackle a leaking flange on an offshore gas processing platform off Humberside.
The problem was an existing elastomeric gasket - supplied by another seal manufacturer - which had been fitted to a very weak, and subsequently distorted, boiler flange on a high temperature gas condensate boiler. The gasket had extruded during bolt-up and had caused severe flange leakage and increased distortion.
After seeing the problem, Flexitallic's engineers proposed a soft, conformable sealing material that would allow for massive flange distortion, yet offer the strength to prevent further flange damage.
A bespoke solution was arrived at by combining two gasket types. Flexitallic's high compressibility/high sealability expanded PTFE sealant tape, Fluoroseal, was bonded to either face of a 3mm thick stainless steel core usually associated with the company's MRG graphite gasket seal.
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