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As an indispensable and important part of the pipeline system, flanges are mainly used to connect pipelines, euipment and valves and other components. They have important roles such as connecting pipelines, ensuring the stability of the pipeline system, realizing the sealing of the pipeline system, adapting to different working conditions and facillitating maintenance. Through reasonable selection and use of flange connections, the safe and stable operation of pipeline systems can be guaranteed, pipeline leaks, fractures and other safety accidents can be effectively prevented, and the efficiency and economic benefits of pipeline systems can be improved.
At the same time, the flange connection can also adapt to different working conditions, such as high temperature and pressure, corrosive media, etc., thus meeting the needs of different working environments. It can be seen that the importance of the flange in the pipeline connection.
01 What is a flange?
A flange is a mechanical connection used for pipe connection, usualling consisting of two disc-shaped flanges, a certain number of bolts and gaskets. There are a certain number of flange holes on the flange, and the two flanges are closely pressed together by bolts to form a sealing structure at the pipe connection.
The main function of flanges is to connect pipes and equipment so that they can form a single unit for the transportation and handling media. At the same time, flanges can also be replaced with different types of gaskets and selected with different bolt tightness to achieve different degrees of sealing effect and adapt to the needs of different media and working conditions.
Accroding to the material classification, flanges can be divided into metal flanges, plastic flanges, ceramic flanges and other types. Different types of flanges have different sealing effects and application ranges. It is necessary to choose the corresponding flange type according to the actual situation and ensure that it meets the relevant standards and specifications to ensure the safety and reliability of the pipeline connection.
02 What is the share of various materials of flanges in the market?
Steel flange: It is the most widely used flange in the market at present, with a high occupancy rate. It has lower manufacturing cost and is suitable for some low-pressure and temperature occasions, such as some construction, water supply, drainage and other fields.
Stainless steel flange: It's gradually becoming one of the mainstream products in the market, and its share is growing year by year. Stainless steel flanges have good corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance, and are suitable for some high temperature and pressure and strong corrosive environment, such as petroleum, chemical industry, aviation and other fields.
PVC flange: PVC flange has a narrow range of applications in the marketm and is suitable for some genral corrosive media, such as chemical, construction and other fields.
Alumina ceramic flange: alumina ceramic flange is more specialized, higher price, mainly used in some high temperature, high pressure, strong corrosion occasions, such petroleum, chemical, aviation and other fields.
Alumina ceramic flange
03 Performance characteristics of ceramic flanges:
Ceramic flange mainly consists of two ceramic flanges, a certain number of bolts and gaskets, usually made of alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, zirconium oxide and other ceramic materials, with excellent corrosion, wear, high temperature and pressure resistance, and sealing performance. It has a wide range of applications, mainly in chemical, petroleum, electric power, biomedical, aerospace, new energy and other fields, especially for high temperature, high pressure, strong corrosion, strong wear and tear and other harsh working conditions of the media transport and processing.
With long service life, low maintenance cost and high safety performance, ceramic flanges have an irreplaceble role in some special engineering needs. However, because the manufacturing cost of ceramic flanges is high and the manufacturing process is relatively complex, it's necessary to consider its performance and cost and other factors when selecting ceramic flanges and make a scientific and resonable selection according to the actual situation. At the same time, in the installation and maintenance also need to pay attention to certain technical requirements to ensure its safety and reliability.
04 The development history of ceramic flanges:
The development history of ceramic flanges can be traced back to the 1950s, when due to the rapid development of the chemical and petroleum industries, higher requirements for the corrosion resistance of pipelines and equipment were put forward, and the traditional metal flanges were difficult to meet these requiremnets.
Therefore, people began to try to use ceramic materials to manufacture flanges to make up for the shortcomings of traditional metal flanges. The earliest ceramic material used was alumina ceramic, which used a sintering process in the manufacturing process to give it good corrosion resistance, wear resistance and high temperature resistance.
With the emergence and development of new ceramic materials, such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, zirconium oxide, etc., the performance of ceramic flanges has been continuously enhanced and improved. At the same time, the manufacturing process is also continuously optimized and improved, such as the application of plasma spraying, hot isostatic molding and other processes, which makes the manufacturing cost of ceramic flanges is also gradually reduced and the production efficiency is continuously improved.
05 ceramic flange will affect the emergence of other materials flange competitiveness?
Will have a certain impact, but will not completely replace other traditional materials flange, showing more of a complementary relationship.
On the one hand, ceramic flanges have higher performance advantages and application prospects than traditional metal flanges, plastic flanges and other materials. In some special working conditions, such as strong corrosion, high temperature and pressure, strong wear and tear conditions, ceramic flanges can better meet the engineering needs and improve the safety performance and service life of pipelines and equipment.
On the other hand, the ceramic flange manufacturing costs are higher, the manufacturing process is also relatively complex. So in some loe pressure and temperature, non-corrosive media and other conventional conditions, the traditional metal flange and plastic flange and other materials flange still has a high degree of competitiveness and market demand.
It can be seen that ceramic flanges and other materials between the flange more of a complementary relationship. In the application field, different materials flanges can complement and coordinate with each other according to their performance and scope of application to meet the requirements of different working conditions and engineering needs.In terms of market competition, the competitiveness of different material flanges also depends mainly on their cost performance, quality and reliability, service quality and other factors, rather than relying solely on the performance and characteristics of the material itself.
To sum up, the real application in the selection of flange material, need to be based on specific working conditions and application requirements, comprehensive consideration of material performance, scope of application, manufacturing costs, maintenance costs and market competition and other factors, scientific and reasonable selection.
This article is reprinted from CERADIR.
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