In order to rectify the situation of leakage in a liquid system, the threaded points are sealed with a thread sealant. Most machinery has threaded points in it—the larger the machine, the more threaded joints there will be, especially if piping is involved.

Industrial thread sealants come in a wide variety of products that can be applied to reduce the weakness of thread joints, either in liquid or a tape form. The liquid form of industrial thread sealants is often a very thick and gooey substance that is applied to one side of the threaded joint before it is put together. The tape variety of industrial thread sealant is applied as a tape and is often made of Teflon.

The industrial thread sealants have quite the job to do and depending on the machinery that they are used in can include being impact resistant, heat resistant, water or liquid resistant, corrosion resistant, rust resistant, pressure resistant and chemical resistant.

Think of machines and what they are used for—everything. In most machines, there are threads that add parts to the machine, threads that connect pipes to each other to cover distance and more. Every threaded part in a machine has to be sealed to prevent damage, leakage, corrosion and wear.

In a machine system that passes liquids, regardless of their chemical make up, whether its water or highly corrosive chemicals, you don’t want leaks to happen at threaded joints for a variety of reasons. Primarily, damage and injury can occur from leakages as well as considerable loss of product and functionality of the machine.

In a system that uses gas, such as compressed air or steam to work the machinery, an un-sealed thread could result in loss of functionality of the machine. Many machines require high pressure gas build-up to function and a kink or leak in the system could cause complete malfunction or loss of productivity.

In a dry product moving system, threaded joints that are not sealed properly can leak as well. Not to mention that the dry material, such as fine particle dust, can get into the joint and cause rust, corrosion and damage which can result in the requiring of both ends of the threaded joint to be replaced. If you are dealing with a large machine, replacing two parts can be quite expensive, where as industrial thread sealants are actually quite inexpensive in comparison.

In most cases, the industrial thread sealant only needs to be applied once—when the two threaded joints are put together. The thread sealant will continue to do its job for years on end, depending on the system. Other systems require that the thread sealant be replaced and replenished more often. The pressure in a system can sometimes be very great, so the industrial thread sealants need to be pressure and liquid resistant, all while protecting the joints within the machinery system. Many problems can arise with improperly sealed threads in a machine, so finding the appropriate industrial thread sealant is of paramount importance to engineers.