Gaskets and their Multifarious Applications Across Industries

By: Industry Outlook Team | Friday, 05 February 2021

According to recent reports by MarketsandMarkets Research, the global industrial gaskets market worth is anticipated to reach USD 15.96 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 5.5 percent. The surge in demand from mainly the oil and gas-related sectors in the Middle-east regions is driving the growth of the industrial gasket market.

Industrial gaskets are used in various end-use industries. Major factors fuelling the growth of the industrial gasket market include the increasing demand from oil and gas production-related facilities in Gulf countries. Other factors include the increasing consumption of PTFE gaskets, and stringent leakage regulations implemented by the EPA to prevent damage to the environment.

Gasket – an elastomeric component that covers that the intersection between two surfaces is usually manufactured using various materials such as rubber, cork, paper, metal, copper, and foam. Owing to its functionality, this flexible element can be used for a broad scope of purposes such as anti-vibration, packaging, hygiene, noise, and sound reduction, and among these the most important and common use of gasket is sealing.

As gaskets are used in virtually all sorts of industries such as food processing, pharmaceutical, water, and gas, the materials used to manufacture gaskets are chosen meticulously for their characteristics and capability to withstand various environments. These include mines, oceans, alkaline acids, chemical processing, power generation, petrochemical, oil & gas, aerospace, extreme temperature, and pressure.

Since gaskets can be obtained in numerous specifications, they are a crucial element in most of the manufacturing processes. Moreover, they are very common components and are implemented in cars, trains, planes, electrical equipment, and many other applications.

The functioning of a gasket
For a gasket to work well or in other words function effectively and seal away any leaks, the gasket must be compressed adequately. This is done to generate an entire barrier that will make a pressure-tight seal and protect the contents inside the seal. Furthermore, gaskets by separating moving parts of any application protect the parts from rubbing against hard surfaces.

The whole process of manufacturing gaskets is fast as well as inexpensive since gaskets are tremendously crucial and an absolute necessity in the manufacturing of various products. There are various types of gaskets, such as spiral wound gasket, and sheet gaskets. Spiral wound gaskets are produced by winding together metal and the metals offer structural strength. the filler in the spiral wound gasket serves as a seal, where the result is alternating layers of filler and layers of metal. Spiral wound gaskets are not only reliable but are also efficient in numerous and different work environments.

When service involves harsh chemicals or extreme temperature and, in such cases, if a rubber/fiber gasket does not suit the process, the plants prefer or choose a metal spiral wound gasket. The refining industry looks at the basic spiral wound gaskets far more different than most of the manufacturing sectors, owing to the concerns about safety, emissions, explosions.

Spiral wound sealing elements are delicate to ship and handle, especially on larger sizes, they can be damaged too easily. Not just that, proven leakage rates are high compared to others and spiral wound gaskets do not do well in retaining bolt load. And, this is the major issue in the process of maintaining a good seal.

Demand from oil and gas industry
One of the industries that use gaskets largely to avoid the propelling leakage/wastage of expensive fluids/gas in their plants is the Oil and gas companies. Gasket, owing to its unique characteristic to withstand high-pressure conditions, compressive loads, and heat. But unfortunately, due to instability in the price of raw materials the development and growth of the gasket market is hindered.

Talking about the challenges faced by the Gasket market, Amitabh Mehata, Director of Autowell Gasket Industries says, “The major challenge identified in the market is the volatility of raw material prices. The material cost depends on several factors which include material formulation, material production, material quality, material availability, and others. Hence, the fluctuating cost of raw materials is one of the major challenges the industrial gaskets market is facing.” “Secondly, the numbers required for a specific application are very low and thus manufacturing of these gaskets with low volume is a challenge to the growing industries,” he adds.

Growth Opportunities
The rise in the number of refineries in the Asia Pacific region is predicted to offer numerous growth opportunities for the present players in the global gasket market. Also, the ever-increasing deployment of wind power in the Asia Pacific region is led to the surge in demand for gaskets in this particular region. One of the largest buyers and exporter of gaskets in the world is China, which is due to the increasing number of refineries in the country.