Gaskets and Seals are generally used to seal two or more surfaces together. Gaskets and seals are placed between specific surfaces to prevent the leakage of either gases or fluids. These seals are generally manufactured from a flexible material such as rubber or even cork. The gasket or seal is placed between the appropriate surfaces, and the surfaces are then brought together and tightened by various mechanisms. This has the effect of putting pressure on the gasket or seal which responds by sealing the two surfaces together, thus preventing leakage from the joint. Gaskets are are used in many industries such as, mechanical engineering, aerospace, automotive and the plumbing industry. They are available for many kinds of sealing applications, and these can include, pipe washers, engine gaskets and washing machine etc. Many gaskets are commonly manufactured by cutting from sheet materials such as Fibreglass, Paper, Rubber, Cork & Felt, Metal, Plastic polymers

Some gaskets which are made for specific purpose are even made from asbestos. Gaskets need to be manufactured from a material that has yielding and deforming qualities, so that they can tightly fill the space and seal any small irregularities. Most gaskets need to have some form of sealant applied to their surface to enable the gasket to work properly. Gaskets need to be able to handle high compressive loads and fibre gaskets are extremely effective for this purpose, and the more compressive load exerted onto the gasket, the longer the life of the gasket. Gaskets need to be manufactured to high standards, and there are several ways to test the compression qualities of the materials used. The ‘hot compression test’ is an extremely efficient method of testing for these qualities, and most manufactures will publish and provide the results of these tests.

Bearings are the very thing that enables machinery to move at extremely high speeds as well as carry remarkable loads with ease and efficiency. In order to do this effectively however they are highly engineered and precision made. Some of the aspects that are expected of them include being able to offer high precision, reliability and durability as well as the ability to rotate at high speeds with minimal noise and vibration.

Some of you may be surprised at how many aspects and applications bearings are actually used in. Some examples of these are automobiles, airplanes, computers, construction equipment, machine tools, DVD players, refrigerators and ceiling fans. Basically if you have an application or piece of machinery that twists, turns and generally moves, chances are it probably has a bearing in it and one of the most popular types of bearings comes in the form of stainless steel. One of the main reasons as to why the popularity of stainless steel bearings is so high is down to the fact that they work so well under environments that contain moisture and that can be corrosive and abrasive. This makes them the perfect bearing to be used widely for food and beverage processing machinery as well as medical appliances and medicine equipments.

Stainless steel bearings consist of a single row of deep groove ball bearings and have the same deep raceway grooves and close conformity between raceways and balls as standard deep groove ball bearings made of carbon chromium (rolling bearing) steel. What makes these bearings stand out is they are without any filling slots and they can carry axial loads acting in both directions, even at high speeds. The main common motions submitted by not only stainless steel bearings but all bearings are axial rotation, linear motion and spherical rotation as well as hinge motion. In order to complete all of these in the best way you need to use a bearing that can cope with a range of circumstances; stainless steel bearings do just this.

Without bearings we would be constantly replacing parts of machinery and applications that were worn out from friction. They play an essential part in a number of industries and as a result these industries need the very best when it comes to bearings, which is why so many industry professionals choose to use stainless steel bearings as they provide efficiency and of course because they are excellent when faced with corrosive and abrasive conditions.