What is an Integral Seal?
Sometimes referred to as a carrier seal or an edge-bonded gasket used to seal between static mating surfaces or flanges, the Integral Seal™ features a custom engineered rubber element that is edge-bonded and vulcanized to a rigid metal, plastic or composite carrier.
How Do You Select a Gasket Material?
Material selection of both the rigid carrier and sealing element is based on considerations that include:
- Media, or fluid which will come in contact with the seal
- Temperature, including operational and peak temperature values
- Pressure, taking into consideration minimum, maximum, proof, burst, cycle, pulsation
- Vibrational movement
- Thermal expansion
Solves Static Seal Challenges and More
Parker's bonded Integral Seal™ design technology not only helps design engineers overcome challenges commonly encountered with singular elastomer seals used in component assemblies, it provides significant improvements that:
- Simplify installation and maintenance by eliminating pinching, tearing, or crushing of seal element, plus there's no need for lubricant
- Provide visual confirmation the seal is installed
- Eliminate need for re-torquing
- Eliminate cost and necessity for groove machining in mating flanges
- Accommodate multiple materials and/or multi-port sealing on a single plate which also reduces potential for leakage from connected seal geometries
- Simplify procurement and inventory by reducing the number of single-piece parts
Common INTEGRAL SEAL™ Configurations
Whether mating surfaces are flat, curved, or have an irregular shape, composite bonded solutions can be designed to fit most any configuration.
Each customized solution is engineered with a precise squeeze or compression ratio of the elastomer to establish the optimal amount of intimate contact between the seal and the mating surfaces.
Single-Port or Multi-Port Sealing
There is virtually no limit to the number of ports, compartments or chambers that can be sealed with a single plate-like package to facilitate simple and foolproof installation. This greatly reduces assembly time and missing seals. Prerequisites include sufficient flange hardware, strength and adequate bolting pattern and force to assure plate seal and joint integrity during pressurization.
Contoured or Non-Planar Surface Seal
Parker currently designs and manufactures several Integral Seals used in contoured applications. When configured with a thin retainer, it's possible to bend the retainer during assembly and ensure intimate contact between two non-planar surfaces.This should be discussed in detail with CSS Division engineering department during the design phase.
Multiple Materials
Some applications require multiple materials for proper sealing. This may be due to chemical compatibility, permeation, or multiple ports with different fluids. Being able to incorporate different seal materials into the same retainer allows for optimization of the seal design vs. compromising with a single material selection. This feature should be discussed in detail with Composite Sealing Systems Division’s engineering department.
Tandem or Redundancy Seal
For “zero leakage” applications, a secondary companion groove and seal element parallel to the primary seal can be added. Note the leak-rate monitoring groove that can be provided between the two seals. The land width must be widened to accommodate dual seals.
Retrofit Seal
A retrofit Integral Seal can be designed for applications that have O-ring grooves in their hardware. It is extremely helpful in high pressure situations where the O-ring simply cannot handle the pressure or when the customer has a difficult time determining if there is a missing seal at the end of the assembly operation.
Segmented Seals
When an application requires customized gasket sealing for very large diameter assemblies, CSS can design segmented edge-bonded Integral Seal solutions that deliver reliable seal performance and reduce manufacturing and assembly costs.
What solution can we engineer for you?
Blogs
Resources
What You Should Know About Advanced Bonding Technology
What does a customer do when their application calls for enhanced performance that elastomers alone cannot offer? They turn to our uniquely formulated chemical bonding agents which enhance the performance of common elastomeric components by integrating them robustly with metal, thermoplastic, or other component substrates.
The Ultimate Guide to Bonded Sealing Plates — Applications and Benefits of Rubber-to-Metal Bonded Gasket Seals
Bonded sealing plates are known by many names and are sometimes described using related terms, such as rubber-to-metal bonded gasket seals, composite sealing plates, elastomeric seals with metal carriers, carrier plate gaskets, overmolded gaskets, and edge-bonded sealing plates.
Despite the many monikers, bonded sealing plates are versatile components that play a crucial role in various industries.
Gask-O-Seal® and Integral Seal™ Design Handbook, Catalog CSS5124
Thanks to their versatility and capacity for customization, Gask-O-Seal and Integral Seal sealing technology can be used to achieve optimum static sealing of mating flanges in a wide range of applications.
Product Information: Custom Gask-O-Seal and Integral Seal Products
Learn about rubber to metal bonded seal products comprised of elastomer profile molded directly into groove(s) or edge-bonded to rigid substrate to produce an integrated, composite seal for a virtually endless array of static applications.