Combating corrosion is an imperative focus in sourcing components for industrial settings. Oil, gas, power, manufacturing, and marine environments all have harsh effects on standard sealing solutions, which often leads to a shortened product life. When it comes to gaskets, traditional sealing materials such as graphite, mica, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) exhibit poor corrosion resistance and fire safety.
Dominik Holland, area business manager at Seal Innovations, part of Motion Australia, has been working with gaskets for 15 years, garnering an intimate knowledge of the best design practices in sealing technology. He says that creating high-quality sealing solutions for environmentally rugged applications has been a primary challenge for part manufacturers in recent years.
“Gaskets are a type of static sealing, often placed between two connecting pipes or flanges. The basic principle is that it stops whatever is running through those pipes from leaking in a static arrangement, as opposed to a dynamic seal on a pump or similar,” he explained.
According to Holland, Seal Innovations is well-placed in the Australian market to invest in research and development, and relies on Motion Australia’s national footprint to garner strong relationships across several core industrial sectors.
“We have a gasket manufacturing facility in Eagle Farm, Brisbane. At that site we have a laser, knife cutter, waterjet cutter, lathes, presses, spiral winders and kammprofile milling machines. That gives us the capability to deliver products quickly in a market that is struggling with import delays. If a customer needs something urgently, we can get it to them within a couple of days, rather than them having to wait for several weeks.”
He said that learning to adapt to customer needs and a changing industry landscape has benefited the business model, and strengthened their position to offer tailored product and service to a broader range of customers in more future-focused domains.
“Historically, oil and gas have been our biggest industry markets, but they are both shrinking in Australia. This means we are looking into new avenues for potential growth, such as manufacturing and renewables. We sell a wide range of gaskets, from standard flange to highly specific, custom-made products.”
“Our established engineering team bring many years of expertise to the product design,” he continued. “We are a licensed manufacturer of Flexitallic gaskets, who are focused on investing in the development of new materials and technologies in sealing. Whether that is from high temperature resistance, to chemical applications, it gives us an edge in the national market as their sole distributor.”
Recently, Flexitallic have introduced a new sealing material to the market called Corriculite. This non-conductive filler is specifically designed for use in corrosion-prone environments, and boasts superior sealing performance. Having undergone electrochemical evaluation, it has been found that Corriculite is 100 times tighter than graphite, rendering it far more suitable for seawater and hydrocarbon settings.
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