New seal product introduced by FST

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) has introduced its new polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) compound Y005, developed especially for use in guide bands on valves that come into contact with foodstuffs.

It claims the material complies with the regulations of the FDA and European Union (EC Regulation 10/2011) and also prolongs service life.

‘Guide bands compensate for lateral forces and extrusion in valves, which means the materials used must be pressure-resistant. At the same time, the guide bands must have a certain degree of flexibility in order not to be damaged during assembly,’ reads a FST statement. ‘The previously used combinations of carbon and PTFE achieved good service life but were not recommended for food device engineering.’

The main reasons FST developed the special PTFE compound Y005 were to achieve a targeted balance between pressure resistance and flexibility, authorisation for contact with food, and resistance to cleaning-in-place and sterilisation-in-place cleaning products.