A safer alternative to asbestos

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 498 KB
• Volume: 1998
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1350-4789
• DOI: 10.1016/s1350-4789(98)90223-9

✦ Synopsis

Gasket-makers are continually on the lookout for materials which provide comparable sealing properties to asbestos, but without the health and handling problems.

Gee Graphite's Geegraf graphite foil is one such example. It is a thin flexible foil produced by an unique manufacturing process. The natural graphite is mined in a fashion similar to coal and then chemically treated and processed to form a soft flexible foil.

This foil contains no binder or filler, with the result that it exhibits many of the properties of solid graphite. Therefore, it is suitable for use in a wide variety of high temperature applications. It also exhibits good chemical resistance, which make it suitable for the processing of most organic or inorganic chemicals, with the exception of strong oxidising agents such as sulphuric acid. Finally, it has good creep resistance with no cold or hot flow and is non-toxic.

Although it is a relatively expensive raw material, it possesses a long operational life. Therefore, with careful material use it is a competitive alternative in the marketplace.

Geegraf graphite foil is available from Gee Graphite in a range of thicknesses from 0.2 mm to 2.0 ram; densities of 0.7g/cc to lg/cc; and in sheets and rolls up to lm wide.

Several grades of the material are manufactured. The standard grade is 98% purity with 2% ash, but for more specialised applications low sulphur grades of either 99.5% or 99.9% purity are available.