A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joint objects while under compression.
The gasket material which is required to produce a tight seal is dependent upon the roughness of the surface. The gasket must be able to maintain this seal under all the operating conditions of the system including extreme upsets of temperature and pressure. Therefore, it is important to ensure proper design and selection of the gaskets to prevent flange-leakage problems and avoid costly shutdowns of the process plants.
