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Metal seated vs resilient seated gate valves

2023-12-28

Nowadays, there are two kinds of valve seat gate valves on the market, one is the resilient seated gate valves and the other is the metal seated gate valves. And before the resilient seated gate valve was introduced to the market, gate valves with a metal seated wedge has been widely used.

What is a soft seal gate valve?

A soft seal gate valve is a valve that uses a reliable resilient seal between the valve gate and the valve seat to achieve a sealing effect through the friction between the seal and the gate to control the flow of media in the pipeline and cut off the fluid. Compared with the traditional metal sealed hard seal gate valve, the soft seal gate valve is more advantageous in terms of sealing and material adaptability.

The soft seal gate valve is mainly composed of grey cast iron or ductile iron body, bonnet, gate, stem, and sealing ring. Both sides of the gate are fitted with reliable resilient sealing rings, which are usually made of resilient materials such as rubber or PTFE. These materials have excellent wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and high-temperature resistance, will not produce problems such as air and water leakage in the use of the valve, and can maintain a stable seal.

The advantages of the soft seal gate valve are as follows:

1. Easy to operate: 

The soft seal gate valve has a simple structure and is easy to operate, usually only a gentle push or a pull to achieve the switching action.

2. Good sealing performance: 

Soft seal gate valve adopts a reliable elastic sealing ring, good sealing performance, not easy to leak, with reliable sealing.

3. Strong adaptability: 

Soft seal gate valve has a wide range of applications, including municipal engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical, food, light textile, and other industries, and can be applied to a variety of media, including water, oil, gas, acid, and alkali, etc.

4. Durable: 

The sealing ring of the soft seal gate valve is usually made of rubber or other elastic materials, which have excellent wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and high-temperature resistance, and the valve has a long service life.

5. Easy to maintain: 

Soft seal gate valves are easy to maintain, the cover can be opened and the seal can be inspected and replaced directly without the need to dismantle the valve.

In general, the soft seal gate valve has the advantages of easy operation, reliable sealing, durability, and easy maintenance. It has a wide range of applications in general industrial pipelines, municipal projects, construction projects, pharmaceuticals, food, light textile, and other fields.


What is a hard seal gate valve?

Hard seal gate valve is a valve product with more stable sealing performance, high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and wider adaptability. The sealing structure of the hard seal gate valve uses friction between metal materials to achieve the sealing effect. The excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance of this sealing method can adapt to a variety of complex media occasions, and can also handle applications with high tightness requirements.

The hard seal gate valve has the following characteristics:

1. High temperature and pressure resistance: 

Hard seal gate valves can be operated in media temperatures up to 400°C and pressures up to 2500-5000psi.

2. High sealing: 

The hard seal gate valve adopts a metal-to-metal friction seal for a more stable sealing effect, with better sealing and longer service life.

3. Corrosion resistance: 

Hard seal gate valve sealing materials usually use stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant materials, able to operate in harsh media such as strong acids, strong alkalis, and high concentrations of salt solutions.

4. Adaptable: 

Hard seal gate valves use advanced sealing mechanisms that can adapt to high-viscosity media, media containing particles, cellulose, residues, and other media to prevent blockage.

In general, the hard seal gate valve is suitable for chemical, electric power, oil, and gas industries, for high temperature, high pressure, strong corrosive media, high viscosity media, and media containing solid particles or cellulose media and other harsh media in the pipeline system to cut off and regulate the flow.

Soft seal gate valve applicable working conditions:

The soft seal gate valve is an industrial valve that is sealed by friction between a flexible seal and the gate. Compared with the hard seal gate valve, the soft seal gate valve has better sealing performance and a wider range of applications.

The following are the applicable working conditions of soft seal gate valves:

1. Low and medium pressure pipelines: 

Soft seal gate valves are suitable for low and medium pressure (PN≤2.5MPA) pipelines of water, sewage, drainage, natural gas, etc.

2. Low-temperature environment: 

The sealing ring of soft seal gate valves is usually made of rubber and other materials, which can maintain good elasticity and sealing performance in a low-temperature environment.

3. Corrosive media: 

Soft seal gate valve is suitable for corrosive media control and shut-off, using different materials seal rings, such as EPDM, NBR, etc., and can adapt to the requirements of different media.

4. Food, pharmaceutical, and other industries: 

Soft seal gate valves can be selected to meet the FDA standard material, suitable for food, pharmaceutical, and other industry requirements.

In general, the soft seal gate valve is suitable for low and medium-pressure pipelines, and a wide range of media, with excellent sealing performance and adaptability, and is a commonly used type of valve in industrial pipelines.

Hard seal gate valves for working conditions:

Hard seal gate valves are mainly used for cutting off and regulating the flow in the pipeline system of high temperature and high pressure, strong corrosive media, high viscosity media, media containing solid particles or cellulose, and other harsh media.

Specifically, the hard seal gate valve is suitable for the following working conditions:

1. High temperature and high-pressure working conditions: 

Hard seal gate valve can be applied to the medium temperature up to 400℃, pressure up to 2500-5000psi conditions of operation.

2. Strong corrosive media: 

Hard seal gate valve has high corrosion resistance, and can be used in a variety of acid, alkaline, salt, and other strong corrosive media occasions.

3. High viscosity media: 

Hard seal gate valves have good self-cleaning and fluidity, and can be used in pipeline systems for high-viscosity media.

4. Solid particles or cellulose-containing media: 

Hard seal gate valve has an advanced sealing mechanism, which can better handle media containing particles, cellulose, residue, etc., and prevent blockage.

In general, the hard seal gate valve is suitable for industrial fields such as automobile manufacturing, petrochemical, chemical fiber, food, paper, medicine, etc., and has a wide range of applications in pipeline systems dealing with harsh media.

What is the main difference between soft seal gate valve and hard seal gate valve?

The main difference between soft seal gate valve and hard seal gate valve is in the sealing method, material composition and scope of application.

1. Sealing method: 

Soft seal gate valve adopts reliable elastic sealing ring, through the friction between the sealing ring and the gate to achieve the sealing effect, sealing performance is good; hard seal gate valve uses metal material as the sealing material, through the friction between metal and metal sealing, sealing effect is more stable but requires greater operating force.

2. Material composition: 

Soft seal gate valve sealing material is usually selected from rubber or other elastic materials, while hard seal gate valve sealing material is usually used in metal materials, such as stainless steel.

3. Scope of application: 

Soft seal gate valves are suitable for low temperature, low pressure, and non-corrosive media, such as municipal engineering, etc.; while hard seal gate valves are suitable for high temperature, high pressure, strong corrosive media, high viscosity media and harsh media such as solid particles or cellulose media, such as chemical, electric power, oil, and gas industries.

In general, soft seal gate valve and hard seal gate valve have their own advantages and disadvantages, the user should choose the appropriate type of valve according to the actual needs and working conditions and environment.

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