Ongoing development at James Walker Moorflex in manufacturing metal-to-metal seals and components for oilfield equipment has expanded the company’s advanced capabilities in the CNC manufacture of annular products, typically incorporating complex sealing profiles and precise sections up to 2.3m diameter. Precise annular rings incorporating radial and tangential drilling, slotting and threaded parts from 10 to 2300mm diameter can also be supplied following the addition of CNC vertical machining and drilling facilities to the company’s turning equipment. Machine tool and holding mechanisms developed by James Walker Moorflex prevent crushing and allow tight tolerances and absolute concentricity in their manufacture of annular thin walled metal seals, predominantly in Incoloy 825, Inconel 600, 625 and 718 high nickel alloys. The company, in partnership with sister company James Walker and Co, has also developed a combined expertise in high performance elastomer technology and metal-to-metal sealing to produce advanced oilfield sealing products for equipment such as wellheads, chokes and valves. James Walker Moorflex is also producing metal end caps which are used in fully bonded end cap seals. With the seals radially compressed in operation, end caps make intimate metal-to-metal contact with housing surfaces, eliminating the potential for extrusion of the elastomeric sealing element in high-pressure service. Solution-annealed and stress relieved in stainless steel 316 or Inconel 600, they are machined from special thin-walled billets. Suitable for service with hydrocarbons, sour gas, explosive decompression and injection fluids, the seals operate at down to -29C and at up to 1035bar.
