Expansion Joints

Expansion joints

As a result of temperature changes, metals, like other materials, have the property of expanding or shrinking. If a pipe in an installation is attached to equipment or is clamped in the building construction, this can lead to problems. The pipes can become deformed, damage can occur at connection points or taps and even possible anchors to the building can be damaged.

You can use expansion joints to prevent this problem. An expansion joint (A.K.A. Compensator) compensates for the different forces that normally come to the attachment points. There are two different types of expansion joints available at Ebora, namely the metal expansion joint and the rubber expansion joint.

Metal expansion joint

These are mainly applied in the following sectors:

• Petrochemical industry
• Factories
• Power stations
• Shipbuilding

Metal compensators are available with bellows made from stainless steel and steel. This makes the temperature resistance a lot higher than that of a rubber compensator. Depending on the material, a metal compensator has a temperature range of -200 ° C to more than 1000 ° C. In addition to the temperature resistance, metal compensators also have other advantages.

• Good chemical resistance
• Very long service life
• Different mounting options (flanges, welding ends, thread etc ...)

Rubber expansion joint

The rubber expansion joint is mainly supplied with flanges, but a version with threaded ends is also possible. The bellows of the expansion joint can consist of different types of rubber. The choice of which rubber mainly depends on the medium that flows through the pipe. The temperature resistance of the rubber expansion joint is a lot lower than the metal expansion joint. -30 ° C to approximately 120 ° C depending on the selected rubber. Rubber is also subject to natural aging. Advantages of a rubber compensator include.

• Short installation length
• Good vibration and sound insulation
• Easy to assemble

At Ebora you can choose from different types of metal and rubber compensators. These can be supplied in, among other materials, stainless steel, steel, EPDM, NBR.