In the context of industrial production, process pipelines run through various links like human blood vessels, shouldering the key mission of transporting various media such as liquids, gases, and slurries. However, the characteristics of the medium transported by process pipelines vary greatly in different industries and production scenarios from high-temperature and high-pressure crude oil and corrosive acid-base solutions in the petrochemical industry, to clean water and sterile drugs in the food and pharmaceutical industry, to high-temperature molten salts and special gases in the new energy field. The temperature range of the medium can be extended from -50 ℃ to over 300 ℃, and the pressure level also covers low-pressure vacuum to ultra-high pressure above 30MPa. This complex and ever-changing working condition imposes extremely strict and diverse requirements on the strength and sealing performance of the flange, the core component of pipeline connections. Once the flange seal fails, it not only causes medium leakage and production interruption, but also may lead to safety accidents, environmental pollution, and economic losses. The emergence of sealing flange gaskets, with their excellent comprehensive performance, has become an ideal solution to address various process pipeline sealing challenges.
1. Accurately adapting to complex working conditions: breaking through process bottlenecks from sealing performance
Sealing performance is the core value of flange gaskets and the bottom line for safe operation of process pipelines. Traditional sealing gaskets such as asbestos gaskets, rubber gaskets, metal gaskets, etc. often have obvious shortcomings when facing complex working conditions: although asbestos gaskets have good temperature resistance, there is a risk of cancer and poor sealing durability. Rubber gaskets are prone to aging and deformation in high temperature environments, and can become hard and brittle at low temperatures, making them unsuitable for a wide temperature range.
Although metal gaskets have high strength, they require extremely high precision in sealing surface processing and are prone to sealing failure under vibration conditions. In contrast, polyetheretherketone material itself has excellent high temperature resistance and elastic recovery ability. The sealing flange gasket made of it can maintain stable sealing performance in the temperature range of -50 ℃ to 260 ℃. Even after repeated cold and hot cycles, the elastic deformation rate of the gasket can still be controlled within 5%, effectively avoiding the increase of sealing gap caused by temperature changes.
In terms of pressure adaptability, sealing flange gaskets can withstand working pressures up to 25MPa through special structural designs such as corrugated and mortise and tenon groove types, and are not prone to plastic deformation under long-term pressure. Taking the atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit in the petrochemical industry as an example, the pipeline medium temperature can reach 350 ℃, and the working pressure is about 10MPa.
Traditional metal wound gaskets may leak due to sealing surface wear after 6 to 12 months of use, while sealing flange gaskets can extend their service life to 3 to 5 years under the same working conditions. This not only reduces the number of shutdowns for maintenance, but also reduces the safety hazards caused by medium leakage. In addition, for industries such as medicine and food that require extremely high purity of the medium, material itself has extremely low precipitation and meets FDA certification standards, which can effectively avoid contamination of the medium caused by the dissolution of gasket materials and ensure product quality and safety.
2. Weight reduction and efficiency improvement: assisting in the lightweight upgrade of industrial equipment
With the development of industrial manufacturing towards high efficiency and energy conservation, equipment lightweighting has become an important way to improve operational efficiency and reduce energy consumption. In pipeline systems, the weight of flanges and gaskets directly affects the overall load and installation cost of equipment. Traditional metal gaskets (such as stainless steel gaskets and copper gaskets) have a high density (about 7.8g/cm ³), and to ensure sealing performance, it is often necessary to design thicker structures (usually 3 to 5mm thick), resulting in a heavier weight per set of gaskets. The density of material is only 1.32g/cm ³, which is about 1/6 of stainless steel. Under the same size specifications, the weight of sealing flange gaskets is only 15% to 20% of traditional metal gaskets. Taking the steam pipeline system of a large thermal power plant as an example, the pipeline diameter is 1,000mm, and a single set of flanges requires 4 sealing gaskets. The weight of a single set of traditional stainless steel gaskets is about 20kg, while the weight of a single set of sealing flange gaskets is only 3.5kg. The entire pipeline system (a total of 200 sets of flanges) can reduce the weight by about 3,300kg, greatly reducing the load-bearing load of pipeline supports and reducing the manpower and equipment investment during installation. The installation efficiency is improved by about 40%.
In addition to the direct weight reduction advantage, the lightweight characteristics of sealing flange gaskets also indirectly reduce the operating energy consumption of pipeline systems. In the process of fluid transportation, the weight distribution of pipeline components can affect the flow resistance of the fluid. Lightweight gaskets and flange combination can reduce the vortex phenomenon of the fluid in the pipeline and reduce pressure loss. A case study of the renovation of a circulating water pipeline system in a chemical enterprise showed that the use of sealing flange gaskets reduced the pressure loss of the pipeline system by 8% to 12%, and the operating current of the circulating water pump decreased from the original 150A to 135A, saving about 12,000 kWh of electricity per year, equivalent to a reduction of 4.8 tons of standard coal consumption, achieving significant energy-saving effects. In addition, lightweight sealing flange gaskets can effectively reduce the overall weight of mobile devices such as ships and offshore platform pipeline systems, improve equipment maneuverability and stability, and reduce the impact of energy consumption and turbulence on pipeline sealing during navigation.
3. Corrosion resistant and rust free: Overcoming durability challenges in harsh environments
The medium transported by the process pipeline contains corrosive substances such as acid and alkali solutions, salt spray, organic solvents, etc. These media can cause serious corrosion damage to traditional metal gaskets, resulting in thinning of gasket thickness, sealing surface failure, and even rusting of flange connection parts. According to statistics, leakage caused by gasket corrosion accounts for over 60% of pipeline failures in the chemical industry, which not only increases maintenance costs but also poses a serious threat to the environment. Material has excellent chemical stability and good corrosion resistance to most inorganic acids (such as hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid concentrations below 50%), organic acids (such as acetic acid and citric acid), alkaline solutions (such as sodium hydroxide concentrations below 30%), and organic solvents (such as ethanol and acetone). After soaking in corrosive media below 200 ℃ for 1,000 hours, its weight loss rate is only below 0.2%, and the tensile strength retention rate exceeds 90%, far superior to traditional metal and rubber gaskets.
In the field of marine engineering, the high salt spray environment of seawater has extremely strong corrosiveness to pipeline sealing components. Traditional stainless steel gaskets will show obvious corrosion after 1 to 2 years of use in seawater, while sealing flange gaskets can withstand salt spray erosion and seawater immersion for a long time in the seawater cooling pipeline system of offshore platforms, with a service life of up to 5 to 8 years, and do not require regular anti-corrosion treatment, greatly reducing the maintenance cost of marine equipment. In the electroplating industry, highly corrosive media such as chrome plating solution and nickel plating solution transported through pipelines can cause strong electrochemical corrosion of metal gaskets, leading to rapid failure of gaskets. Sealing flange gaskets can maintain stable performance under such extreme corrosion conditions, effectively avoiding plating solution leakage caused by gasket corrosion, ensuring the quality of electroplating products, and reducing environmental pollution caused by corrosive media.
In addition, the sealing flange gasket also has excellent wear resistance and aging resistance. Under long-term vibration and friction conditions (such as compressor pipeline system), its sealing surface is not easy to wear, and under the action of ultraviolet ray, ozone and other environmental factors, the material performance will not show significant attenuation, further extending the service life of the gasket.
Overall, sealing flange gaskets, with their excellent sealing performance, lightweight advantages, and super corrosion resistance, perfectly adapt to the diverse working conditions of process pipelines. They not only provide reliable guarantees for the safe and stable operation of industrial production, but also play an important role in energy conservation, emission reduction, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement, becoming an innovative benchmark in the field of industrial pipeline sealing in the new era.
