Do you have a thickness problem?
Too thick, or not thick enough?
Have you thought about your gasket thickness?
What is it supposed to be?
Could thickness be the cause of many of your problems?
Have you ever bolted up your piping only to find that you are left with an excessive gap at the end? How does that occur?
Process piping systems require gasketing in a variety of forms and the choices of thickness are varied as well, but did you know that for your ASME B16.5 flanges, .125″ is the required thickness?
There is much debate about the appropriate thickness of gasketing required for ASME B16.5 flanges, but buried deep in the specification, in Nonmandatory Appendix C for Calculating Bolt Lengths, following the calculations leads me to the conclusion that the closed gap of all ASME B16.5 flanges should be .125″.
Therefor, your ASME B16.5 process piping systems require a gasket that will maintain your .125″ tk closed gap to keep a proper seal in your application and for your Process Piping System for fit together properly as designed per ASME 16.5
What does that mean at the Gasket? I believe this is best summarized in the John H. Bickford book Gaskets and Gasketed Joints, Chapter 2, Quality Evaluation Criteria for Sealing Materials…
“THE MOST IMPORTANT PROPERTIES FOR SEALING MATERIALS ARE:
1. Loading capacity
2. Sealability
3. Elastic behavior of a sealing material
4. Capacity for chemical resistance against media”
Consider your current gasket selection; is it the correct thickness? what is the load capacity? what is the sealability? what is the recovery? how chemically resistant is your gasket material?
