Hylomar Universal Blue is the world standard for a non-setting sealant. It is used by many of the worlds automotive manufacturers, major airlines, compressor manufacturers, heavy equipment manufacturers, various OEMs and racing teams. It is a polyester urethane based viscous putty blended with a solvent to make it easy to apply, whether pumped, applied in a tube, or sprayed in an aerosol. It was a revolutionary sealant when it was introduced over 40 years ago, a development product out of Rolls Royce that was used to seal the flanges in gas turbine engines and withstand the high temperatures and intense vibration of a jet engine. A non-setting sealant, it doesn't harden, even at 250oC. It has a unique curtaining action. As flanges sealed with Hylomar Universal Blue are pulled apart, the material stretches, and then breaks cohesively, leaving sealant on both sides. When the flanges return together, the putty reseals, a self-healing mechanism. This makes Universal Blue a particularly effective sealant on close fitting large flanges which are subject to extreme vibration, distortion, or joint movement, because while the seal may break for a microsecond, it reseals and the fluids remain contained.
If you would like to experiment, try spraying the back of a poster with Hylomar XP Aerosol. It will then adhere to a wall or another surface, yet can be pulled apart like a Post-It Note.
Hylomar Universal Blue has higher adhesion, and will support more weight than a Post-It Note, but it works on a similar principle. Some customers have used AF to position metal pieces in place during assembly when they need to be re-positioned or adjusted later in the process. The temporary bond would hold the piece in place temporarily.
As Universal Blue is non-curing, it allows for easy disassembly and repair. Old Universal Blue can be just wiped off with a rag, paper towel (it works better with a solvent such as our Hylomar Gasket Remover) or Hylomar Grand Prix Wipes.
The application of Universal Blue is straightforward, which makes for simple manufacturing processes. There are no set times to observe, nor cure times to slow up testing or assembly. AF will not clog up nozzles or cure over a shut-down period. In fact, the shelf life of Universal Blue is extremely long. While Hylomar only warrants its product for two years, under proper storage conditions Universal Blue is known to last for very long times and remain effective.We have seen tubes from the 1960s that are still ok (although we do not recommend using or guarantee product this old).
AF has been noted to work at temperatures up to 350°C on certain applications. We hypothesize that the silica/Hylomar polymer mixture fills the tiny surface imperfections of these joints, and at high temperatures even after the polymer degrades (which starts to occur at temperatures above 250C) the silica and residue remain as a film on the surface, which for close fitting flanges closes off the leak paths.
For example Hylomar Advanced Formulation has been used to seal exhaust manifolds.
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Originally Posted by scracha
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