Testing & Validation
Amorim T&D sealing materials are unique because they compress mostly within themselves thereby reducing extrusion. Flat cork gaskets will ensure enough surface area contact and guarantee adequate compression, even when there are flange surface imperfections such as distortion, paint or welding defects, etc. They also eliminate the need for controlled compression system designs, therefore cutting manufacturing costs. As most flanges have a tendency to bow when placed under load, gasket conformability is critical and our T&D materials will help to provide a leak-free solution. Amorim T&D materials were submitted to severe ageing cycles (over 1500 hours @ 167ºC under compression and in full contact with oil) in order to show correlation with over 30 years of service life. Application testing to reproduce extreme field temperatures like arctic conditions with thermal cycles down to -60ºC, show that Amorim T&D materials remain flexible and retain the correct amount of sealing stress in those conditions. These test protocols, based on similar industry long-term validation tests, confirm that Amorim T&D materials withstand transformer service life requirements and are suitable for conditions in a range from -60°C to 125°C or higher (up to175°C in the case of TD7000 Silicone Cork).