Ultrapharma has developed the material Steam-Flon® for sanitary gaskets and some other innovative products. This material is a unique blend of non-pigmented PTFE and 316L stainless steel powder. The mechanical properties of this compound are very interesting because it virtually eliminates the cold flow problems we experience with, for example, virgin PTFE gaskets.
Ensuring product purity and process integrity across the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries.
European leader in FDA-compliant gaskets and validation components. Ensuring product purity and process integrity across the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. Our screen gaskets are not used the same way as conventional filters, although they can be considered a filter. Conventional filters are built differently and have many layers to prevent particles to pass through, these can reach efficiencies of almost 100%. A particle comes in many different shapes.
For example, a hair has a diameter of Ø 0,1 mm but the length can be centimetres long. If the hair arrives perpendicular to the screen it might pass a 100 mesh screen. With a conventional filter, the second or third layer will prevent the hair to pass. Retention’s of standard screens are calculated according to international standards using perfectly round glass spheres. Our screens are only one layer and therefore they cannot be considered the same as a filter. Each screen gasket has a high-performance gasket made out of one of the validated compounds that we use for our standard Sanitary Gaskets range.
Cold flow is the term we use for the movement of plastic under permanent load/stress, a state that is used with static seals. Cold flow increases at elevated temperatures. Material of the gasket is slowly moving towards the inside of the fitting and creates a bead. This bead leads to flow restriction and is a potential area for particles/bacterial entrapment. The Steam-Flon® material takes the cold flow out of the equation, creating a very stable seal with no leaks even at large temperature fluctuations.
For Steam-Flon material the specification is:
Deformation under Load 14 MPa – 24 hrs @ 23°C = 5%
For standard PTFE it is:
Deformation under Load 14 MPa – 24 hrs @ 23°C = 15%
Steam-Flon® is a registered trademark of Ultrapharma BV
The Steam-Flon® gasket last longer if the correct torque is applied. Over-compression is disastrous for each gasket material, even for Steam-Flon®. We came to these recommendations after testing our gaskets at 10 bar water pressure. More information can be found in the Steam-Flon brochure.
The Steam-Flon® gasket last longer if the correct torque is applied. Over-compression is disastrous for each gasket material, even for Steam-Flon®. We came to these recommendations after testing our gaskets at 10 bar water pressure. More information can be found in the Steam-Flon brochure.
Steam-Flon® is available in the following standards:
The better the alignment the lower the torque required. Therefore we are introducing the Type-III series, on both sides a lip. This dramatically helps maintenance engineers when installing these gaskets when piping is not properly aligned.
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