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Which Gasket Materials Are OEMs Using in Your Industry?

Construction applications and marine applications are both regularly exposed to extreme environments — from dust and chemicals to humidity and fluctuating temperatures.

armacell-foam
With conditions like this, specialty materials are required. CGR routinely works with OEMs whose products undergo these conditions, during which we’ll partner with industry-leading suppliers to make sure their materials and our manufacturing processes get the job done.

Two of our suppliers recently highlighted these OEM projects on their websites, published as success stories for gasket and seal components.

Armacell, a world leader in the manufacturing of flexible insulation foams, focused on our project for an OEM construction application that involved the fabrication of Ensolite foam. Rogers Corporation, a specialty materials manufacturer for cushioning, sealing, impact protection, or energy management applications, described CGR’s manufacturing processes of PORON® for a display mount cushion to be installed in a marine vessel.

Read more about each of these material properties and the challenges that CGR tackled during each project below:

[Armacell] Delivering 100 Unique Parts for a Heavy Equipment OEM

armacell-ensolite-foamAs a stand-alone material, Armacell’s Ensolite foam is known for its exceptional sealing capabilities and high-performance physical structure.

However, for this particular construction application, an OEM needed a wide range of seals in a variety of thicknesses to meet their product criteria — some even thicker than the raw material itself.

Problem: The company needed seals that offered quantifiable noise reduction, as well as compliance with several stringent global specifications. In some cases, the seals needed to be up to 90mm thick and able to withstand trials, testing, and fit requirements for over 100 unique applications.

Solution: First, the team assessed the material and determined that the appropriate thickness could be attained by laminating the foam material prior to custom cutting. After selecting and testing a suitable adhesive and developing an effective laminating process, the rolls of foam were further laminated with a PSA (Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive) for attachment to the OEM’s substrates.

Finally, with our custom waterjet and die cutting equipment, the components were cut to precise specifications and quantities. They are now custom packaged, coded, and shipped every week.

View the full case study here

[Rogers Corporation] Manufacturing a Display Mount Cushion for a Marine Vessel

display-mount-cushionAs a preferred converter at Rogers, CGR’s team was familiar with Rogers’ PORON Polyurethane Foams.

This marine industry OEM needed more than just water or fluid resistance though — their gasketing and cushioning system needed to withstand weather vibrations, physical shocks, dramatic temperature fluctuations, and more — all to protect an industrial-duty touch screen display.

Problem: Touch screens are not normally required to endure the harshness of the proposed industrial marine environment: humidity, wetness, shock, and extreme temperatures were just the beginning. The OEM placed a premium on the protection of this sensitive equipment.

Solution: In addition to selecting an exceptionally high durability material, the CGR team developed a unique system of parts with two levels of protection to support the screen. The completed assembly required four different gasket components, all designed from scratch and crafted with the use of our skiving, laminating, slitting, and die cutting equipment — and all developed and prototyped within three weeks. Annually, we now deliver thousands of these assemblies.

View the full case study here

CGR at Work

With over 100 pieces of professional equipment and a nearly unlimited range of Material Suppliers to choose from, CGR regularly produces gaskets and seals for construction equipment parts, marine applications, and so much more.

Visit our Case Studies page to learn more about the industries and materials we’ve worked with and to see specialty examples of CGR at work.

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