Gaskets That Suit Food & Beverage Production

By Author: Bob DuPont
Total Articles: 14
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For procuring rubber gaskets and other materials for your facility, find a manufacturer that excels in customer specified custom products. The materials you use do influence the quality of products. You also avoid problems like product waste, recalls, customer complaints and costly down time.

Like for any other industry, rubber gaskets are required for food & beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. These industries have specific requirements regarding the features of the rubber gaskets. The gaskets must be perfectly suitable for carrying food items, beverages and drugs as a let-up may affect the composition of these products. You also need to take into account an array of variables such as sizes of hoses, make, weight, flexibility, temperature ratings, type of reinforcement layers, rated working pressure, etc.

Apart from the rubber gaskets, you also need to ensure that you procure superior quality hose fittings. Hose fittings are available in the sizes from 1/4" to 6". Standard 10- 20RA surface finish on Tri-Clamps® is required. These must also have a heat trace number for traceability. The supplier ...
... should be willing to electropolish the fittings. Material test reports (MTRS) should be provided as well.

From a top-of-the-line supplier, you may also expect O-rings, Detectomers® Metal Detectable/Xrayable, sanitary clamps, tubing, valve & pump replacement parts and antimicrobial products.

Procure tri-clamp fittings in stainless steel or non-metallic materials such as Kynar®/PVDF or alloys like Alloy 20, Hastelloy C22 & C276, Monel and Titanium. Sanitary clamps would be available in several styles such as 13MHHM (single pin), High Pressure, Thermocouple, Double pin, etc. Locks and labels are sequentially numbered for complete batch traceability.

There is a range of options in hose fittings including Reusable Tri-clamp®, Sani-lock®, Bevel Seat, Buttweld Tube, Buttweld Pipe, Male Cam Lock, Female Cam Lock, Tri-clamp®, Mini Tri-clamp®, Maxi Tri-clamp®, PTFE lined Tri-clamp®, Cam and Groove PTFE Lined Female Cam Lock, Compression Tube Adapter, Lap Joint Flange Retainer, Lap Joint Flange, PTFE Encapsulated Lap Joint Flange, Compression Tube Connector Ferrule and Nut, Compression Tube Adapter Ferrule and Nut, Female JIC, Male Union Adapter, Female Union Adapter, Male Pipe Thread and Female Pipe Thread.

As for O-rings, find a supplier that offers a full line of AS568 dash numbers, metric and specialty O-ring sizes produced using FKM Fluoroelastomer, Buna-N, PTFE, EPDM, Silicone and Tuf-Steel® FDA or USP Class VI compliant compounds. They must provide for quick identification of standard AS568 sizes.

X-ray and metal detection systems ensure product safety and integrity as outlined by the legislation. There should be an effective inspection system to detect contaminants and to monitor the quality of products. It would help a business to avoid problems like product waste, recalls, customer complaints and costly down time.

With leading rubber gasket manufacturers, you can expect complete line of gaskets as well as other products and accessories adhering to quality standards in the industry. Advanced electric heater hoses support accurate temperature control and these can be used for a variety of applications. In industries that require consistent temperature, their use is recommended.

Suppliers of the likes of rubberfab.com can be trusted for the quality of products they offer. You need to take into account the track record of suppliers before settling for one. Finding a supplier for rubber gaskets and other material is an important decision.

The writer is associated with Rubber Fab Technologies Group that offers metal hose assemblies, stainless steel tri clamp fittings, sanitary gaskets, o-rings and other such products.