A spiral wound gasket consists of three /p>Outer ring. Made of carbon steel, this outer ring is sometimes called the centering ring or guide ring. It’s used to center the gasket when you insert it into a bolted flange joint. Inner ring. The inner ring is pivotal for the gasket because it prevents windings from buckling inside the pipe. When a gasket buckles, parts of it get sucked into the pipe. From there, pieces of the gasket will typically flow through the pipel they get caught on something. Often, they’ll get wrapped around rotating equipment like a pump. The mess that results is known as a “bird’s nest.â€Â Inner rings help you avoid this problem. Sealing an>. As you might guess from the name, the sealing an> creates the seal that prevents leaks. A sealing an> encompasses both windings and filler material. Most spiral wound gaskets in oil and gas refineries will use a flexible grate filler material rated for high temperatures. A flexible grate filler also allows the gasket to be more tolerant of flange distortion and joint misalignment. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is another common filler material. PTFE is not rated for high-temperature applications, however. Meanwhile, most winding materials in refineries will be stainless steel and monel.Â
