Our team has watched materials come and go across five decades of gasket manufacturing, but few have solved as many problems as Thermiculite. Most engineers already know non asbestos gaskets as the standard replacement for old asbestos-based sealing, and Thermiculite sits at the high-performance end of that category. It’s worth understanding what it offers and where it genuinely outperforms the other non-asbestos gaskets on the market.
Thermiculite is built from exfoliated vermiculite reinforced with tanged stainless steel or synthetic fibres rather than the compressed fibre blends used in more conventional non asbestos gaskets. That construction gives it a service temperature up to 1050°C and a chemical range spanning a pH of 0 to 14, figures that put it well ahead of standard non-asbestos fibre. You can see the full technical range on our Thermiculite material page, or browse our broader non-asbestos gaskets range for CNAF and NAF grades better suited to lower pressure and general purpose use.
Thermiculite tends to get specified in heavy settings such as high-pressure steam systems and strong oxidising environments, and it turns up regularly in exhaust and flue gas lines too, where lesser materials blow out under thermal cycling. The Thermiculite 815 grade adds a 316 stainless steel core for extra structural integrity under pressures up to 200 bar, while Thermiculite 894 is braided with Inconel wire and supplied in coil form for packing and gland applications rather than flat gaskets. Both are fully asbestos-free and API 607 fire-safe qualified, in keeping with the rest of our non asbestos gaskets range.
Water treatment plants and chemical processing lines are two of the sectors that use Thermiculite most consistently, largely because both deal with corrosive media that ages older sealing materials fast. Pharmaceutical manufacturing leans on it too, where non asbestos gaskets need to hold up against sterilisation cycles as well as aggressive chemistry.
Swapping a legacy fibre gasket for Thermiculite is rarely as simple as ordering the same shape in a new material. Bolt load and flange finish affect how the material seats as much as gasket thickness does, so it pays to check the fit before a shutdown rather than during one. Our full gasket range covers the cut shapes and forms both Thermiculite and our standard non asbestos gaskets come in, and our team can talk through spec changes before you commit to a large order.
If you’re weighing up whether Thermiculite or a more standard non asbestos gasket is right for your next shutdown or new build, get in touch with PTM. Call 01625 573971 or email sales@epdm.co.uk and our technical team will help you match the grade to the application.
