GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials: Sealants & Gaskets
Increased Aircraft Throughput and Availability
GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials are a family of products that can reduce production time and increase aircraft availability because they require no curing.
They also maintain their protective performance for multiple open/close cycles during production and maintenance, eliminating the time required to remove used sealants each time the panel is opened.
In today's competitive aircraft market, increasing the availability of aircraft by improving production efficiency for aircraft OEM's, or by reducing maintenance downtime is critical to meet the demands of today's customers. Spending time waiting for traditional polysulfide sealants to cure is costly, whether during initial prototyping and production, or when taking an aircraft out of service for maintenance and repairs. Additional time is required to scrape these materials off of aircraft surfaces before replacing them during each production and maintenance open/close cycle.
The durable GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials ensure reliable mechanical performance in the most challenging environments. These materials are easy to install because their flexible construction conforms to irregular surfaces, making them more forgivable for gap filling. Their non-hazardous properties result in easier clean-up with a low environmental impact.
Features and Benefits
- Reduced downtime with materials that require no curing
- Reliable performance in the most challenging environments
- Durable protection against extreme temperatures, fluids, and other environmental hazards
- No degradation when exposed to UV
- Improved sealing of gaps and irregular surfaces with highly conformable materials
- Increased reliability by maintaining seals over multiple open/close cycles during production and maintenance
- Low environmental impact from non-hazardous waste
- Easy installation from single-component material
The Science of GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials
The key to the outstanding performance of GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials is the proprietary material used in their construction — expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). The mechanical and chemical properties of ePTFE enhance the materials' durability because it is temperature- and abrasion resistant as well as chemically inert. Gore engineers can manipulate the properties of ePTFE to enable the use of different adhesives for various applications and to withstand exposure to vibration encountered during flight and contaminants such as coffee, fuel, chemicals, and de-icing fluids.
Using GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials completely eliminates cure time for sealing and protective materials, significantly reducing direct maintenance time. The unique construction of GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials enables them to remain flexible and compliant over multiple open and close cycles, which translates to significant savings in personnel time during production and maintenance. GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials also reduce downtime because they are significantly easier to install. Unlike traditional two-component materials, Gore's materials require no mixing, masking, or clean-up after installation. Their flexible construction allows them to conform easily to complex shapes and irregular surfaces, making them easier to install in tight spaces of an aircraft. The simple installation process for these materials reduces the number of hours required for successful installation.
Reliability in Harsh Environments
Reliable product performance is crucial in the aerospace industry, and the challenging conditions in which these products are used have a direct impact on their success or failure. GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials maintain consistent performance over time, remain stable when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, are chemically inert, and withstand extreme temperatures — all of which are key criteria for reliable performance in harsh environments.
Customized Solutions for Durable Performance
Proven by more than 20 years of successful applications, GORE™ SKYFLEX™ Aerospace Materials are lightweight material solutions available for today's aerospace industry. These durable materials have been customized to withstand the most challenging conditions in a variety of applications — surface protection, sealing, and specialized environmental sealing applications. Available in standard or custom sizes, these materials can be ordered with a variety of adhesives to increase their resistance to specific challenges such as high temperatures, hydraulic fluids, and difficult locations for installation.