What are foam gaskets and what are they used for?
Foam gaskets are commonly used in the manufacture of equipment requiring watertight or airtight seals. They are also used in the manufacture of some types of filters.
What are the properties of foam gaskets?
Foam is a blown variant of rubber. However, unlike solid rubber, foam rubber is lightweight and easily compressible. The general properties for a foamed rubber are the same as those of the parent rubber. Many rubber materials can be produced as foam, including neoprene, nitrile, viton, silicone, and EPDM.
The particular foam rubber you require will depend upon the application. Most commonly, foam gaskets are manufactured in either neoprene foam or EPDM foam, both of which are closed cell materials, making them excellent solutions for sealing against water and air.
We can also supply open cell foam gaskets, which are more suitable for temperature resistance in both hot and cold environments.
Foam gasket specifications
Here at RH Nuttall, we can manufacture and supply foam gaskets and foam pads to any given specification, and we are happy to work from sketches or technical drawings.
Our neoprene / foam sponge gaskets and EPDM foam / sponge gaskets are manufactured either in black or in white; however, our polyethylene foam gaskets can be supplied in numerous colours, depending on the quality required.
All of our foam gaskets can be supplied in a range of thicknesses (from 1mm – 25mm), depending on the base material foam required.
Foam gaskets can also be supplied in a ‘kiss cut’ format to aid in easier dispensing on assembly lines. For further information on this please contact a member of our sales team.
Self-adhesive foam gaskets
Self-adhesive backing can be applied to most of the foam gaskets we supply. Adhesive foam gaskets can aid in ease of application during third hand fixing.
For further details on the different types of foam gaskets we can supply, please visit our foam materials section of the website.