Development of New Metallic Gasket and its Optimum Design for Leakage Performance

This paper introduces a new all-metal gasket that incorporates strategically located circumferential annular lips that form seal lines with the flanges. This gasket, named Super Seal Gasket, by virtue of its special shape, makes use of the material's spring effect, resulting in sealing performance. This change in approach, from the traditional one based on material development to one of mechanical design, brings with it the need for optimization of the different design parameters for leakage performance. We were able to develop an optimization methodology for this new product using the Taguchi method. As a test case, a 25A sized industrial gasket was optimized using this methodology. In FEM analysis, contact stress and deformation information was used to quantify leaking. Helium leak testing reveals considerable improvement in the sealing performance, hence verifying the applicability of the methodology developed. This work has proved that material development is not the only approach towards the development of new, more effective gaskets and novel gaskets, such as the one introduced in this study, have a useful part to play in the sealing of flanged joints.