Rework costs halved with urethane-filled gaskets

21st March 2017

Anna Flockett

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An advanced range of urethane-filled expanded aluminium gaskets have been developed by Parker Chomerics, and is able to provide a soft, electrically conductive fluid and pressure sealing solution for a variety of flange-to-flange assemblies. METALASTIC EXP-URE fully cured gaskets offer users the ability to minimise the galvanic corrosion of interfacing surfaces that demand electrical bonding, making them suitable in applications requiring lightning strike grounding or EMI shielding.

Furthermore, with several performance enhancements over traditional gasketing alternatives, customers can anticipate 30% lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) from factors that include the avoidance of assembly rework and material replacement.

METALASTIC EXP-URE gaskets are targeted at numerous military and commercial applications, including exterior mounted device bases such as antennas, radars and lighting. Further uses include access panel assemblies like electronics bays and hatches, as well as connector/waveguide assemblies.

Importantly, the conformable, high surface affinity of urethane provides superior fluid sealing that can result in corrosion reduction of up to 300% in comparison with traditional sealing alternatives, leading to rework cost reductions of up to 50%.

Moreover, the softurethane requires low deflective forces, thus permitting increased design freedom for the interfacing assembly. This results in cost optimisation through reductions in fastener quantities, flange thickness, assembly tolerances and weight.

The wave-formed grade 3003 aluminium alloy provides electrical continuity at gasket deflection as low as 15%, aiding full surface electrical contact between gasketing and mating surfaces in highly variable applications where deflection is typically localised around fasteners.

The upshot is optimised electrical performance and minimised system failures, again contributing to reduced rework costs. Electrical performance is further enhanced through the elimination of point-to-point contact resistance associated with woven wire gasketing technologies.

METALASTIC EXP-URE gaskets are available in two standard thicknesses (0.7 and 1.4mm). The thicker variant is recommended for applications requiring more design leniencies due to assembly design deficiencies such as broad tolerances, thin flange thicknesses and broad fasteners. Standard sheet size is 304.8x558.8mm (12x22”) although gaskets can be cut in line with customer requirements upon request.

The shielding effectiveness of METALASTIC EXP-URE gaskets is more than 90dB for all frequencies (10MHz to 18GHz), while electrical through-resistance is 0.0015Ohms.