Sealing Performance of an Embossed Rubber Coated Metal Gasket

An embossed single layer of rubber coated metal is a technology that is being applied to the sealing of gasketed joints in internal combustion engines. This technology has the stability of steel, the sealability of rubber, and the control of stiffness through emboss geometry. The sealing performance of this technology is a function of many parameters involving material properties, gasket geometry, surface finish, and joint loading. The relationship between coolant sealability and these parameters was measured. In this paper, results are presented for half emboss configurations where emboss height, surface finish, and clamp load are varied. The data shows that emboss height and flange surface roughness have little effect on the sealing performance of the material studied. The data can be used to select gasket designs which require less expensive flange finishes and lower assembly loads while providing good sealing performance.