Abstract
Asbestos-related regulations have virtually eliminated asbestos from gasket products and the industry is now transitioning to mastering safer and more efficient uses of non-asbestos gaskets. To ensure safety in the long-term use of non-asbestos gaskets, control methods for using non-asbestos gaskets safely and techniques to evaluate and estimate the long-term performance of gasket connections must be developed, compensating for actual data. In this report, we make predictions on long-term variations in the contact pressure of gasket connections according to stress relaxation tests for flange connections. Particularly, we discuss the advantages of retightening period and temperature.
