Gasket materials

At the Canadian Museum of Nature, we are looking for a gasketing
material to replace missing/shredded/crumpled felt gaskets on
herbarium cabinet doors. To date we have tested a number of
closed-cell polymer foam gaskets and have found that they suffer
permanent compression-set in a short period of time. They also
appear (somewhat surprisingly) to give a less air-tight seal than
the original felt gaskets.  We have been reluctant to go back to
felt because of its tendency to shed fibres, however we are now
reconsidering the use of a synthetic felt to reproduce the original
seal.

If anyone has recently found an effective gasketing material for
metal cabinets, could you please share the details with us?

Fiona Graham
Conservator
Canadian Museum of Nature
613-364-4079
Fax: 613-364-4027


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:71
                   Distributed: Tuesday, May 13, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-71-013
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