Tank Car Safety Solutions from Trelleborg

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, a global developer, manufacturer and supplier of precision seals, bearings and custom-molded polymer components for chemical transportation, recently introduced new products and services, including a new line of flat gaskets, a manway lid gasket, a fluid sealing management program, and online ordering for Canadian and Mexican customers.

Trelleborg’s new line of flat gaskets for chemical transportation, including tank cars, tank trucks, IBC and ISO containers “provide solutions for a wide range of applications, such as service equipment, valves, pressure plates and loading equipment,” the company says. “We now have gasket cutting capabilities and is bringing to market our own HMF FlatSeals^TM technology for industry standard materials including elastomers, flexible graphite, compressed non-asbestos fiber, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in both standard and custom geometries.”

“To minimize costly downtime, it’s critical that operators in the chemical transportation industry have immediate and consistent single-source access to components, including our new line of flat gaskets, which are designed to be compatible with a broad range of even the most aggressive chemicals,” notes Segment Director, Chemical Transportation Thijs Menzel. “With world-class engineering capabilities like CNC knife-cutting, traveling head press, and optical measurement system for quality assurance, we can offer same-day turnaround of in-stock standard geometries and custom geometries. We ensure customers have peace of mind by delivering the right high-performance product for their tank cars, maximizing seal life, and minimizing downtime. To lower the risk of non-accident releases (NARs), the highest level of material compatibility is required. Our new line of flat gaskets enhances an already outstanding product lineup of seals and valve repair kits and embodies everything that sets Trelleborg apart in the industry.”

The new flat gaskets “help customers in the Americas’ chemical transportation market ensure the safe transport of hazardous materials with an extremely reliable, immediately available solution,” Trellebord says. “All flat gasket materials are compliant with REACH, RoHS, and Prop 65. Specific materials are compliant with FDA, 3A, and USP regulations. Like all our chemical transportation products, the new line of flat gaskets is backed by the Tran-SECURE™ Fluid Sealing Management Program (details below), which provides customers comprehensive support through a dedicated team of materials experts, sales engineers and customer success advocates focused solely on the chemical transportation market.

Trelleborg’s new Turcon^® Tran-SECURE™ PTFE manway lid gasket “offers customers an enhanced sealing solution with an improved design featuring our proprietary, high-performance Turcon^® PTFE material,” the company says. “The glass-reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) delivers improved compressive and tensile strength, while minimizing creep relaxation to ensure a tight seal over an extended time. The chevron-based design of the gasket uses the PTFE’s inherent elasticity to create its own sealing pressure, which helps it resist the deformation common to other manway gasket materials without sacrificing sealing force or surface pressure. Specially designed to provide superior sealing performance in appropriately torqued AAR-1, TRN-1, and UTC-1 style tank car manways, Trelleborg’s Turcon^® Tran-SECURE™ lid gaskets provide the Americas’ chemical transportation market a safe, reliable and readily available solution for transporting even the most aggressive chemicals.”

“The chemical industry faces many challenges both in the processing of materials and in the transportation of these materials to customers,” notes Menzel. “According to the Association of American Railroads, the manway is the leading cause of non-accident releases (NARs), meaning it is critical that the industry has a readily available and reliable source for high-quality gaskets. For decades, shippers, tank car manufacturers, and railcar repair shops have relied on Trelleborg to provide high-performance seals and repair kits, material testing, and root cause analysis support. To fulfill their need for a single-source supplier for all their sealing requirements, we developed the new Turcon^® PTFE manway lid gasket. Our materials engineers specially selected the proprietary Turcon^® PTFE compound because of its superior sealing qualities when transporting a broad range of chemicals and other liquid commodities. Like all of the products we provide to the chemical transport industry, the Turcon^® manway lid gasket is regulatory-compliant to all North American rail specifications and is available for immediate shipment.”

Trelleborg plans to launch an elastomer gasket for the manway nozzle in 2023.

All the company’s products are supported by Trelleborg’s recently launched Tran-SECURE™ Fluid Sealing Management Program, which provides customers with “global resources and local support provided by a dedicated team of Trelleborg materials experts, sales engineers and customer success advocates who are focused solely on the chemical transportation market,” the company notes “Customers also enjoy 24/7 online access to documents, material compatibility charts, training, torque recommendations, and ordering of in-stock valve repair kits and components through the Chemical Transportation Seals-Shop ecommerce platform, where users can easily search for products, access payment and order history information and track shipments.”

“When a tank car requires maintenance, it isn’t on the rails transporting chemicals and other commodities, which means the equipment owner and shipper are losing money,” says Menzel. “To minimize costly downtime, it’s critical that high-quality seals, gaskets, and other valve repair components are available in the right materials for immediate shipment. Through Tran-SECURE™, we provide that peace of mind to our customers. All our materials—many of which are proprietary formulations and compounds designed to be compatible with a broad range of even the most aggressive chemicals—are fully tested and proven to be compliant with industry regulations.”

The Chemical Transportation Seals-Shop, launched in the U.S. in 2020, is now available to Canadian and Mexican customers. “Expanding the Seals-Shop to our customers in Canada and Mexico is part of our strategy to offer the Americas market convenient options for purchasing high-quality sealing solutions for the manufacture, maintenance and repair of tank cars, trucks and ISO containers,” says Menzel. “With the many challenges equipment owners, shippers, and repair shop customers face today, this self-service ordering platform saves valuable time, so they can focus on the things that matter most to their businesses.”