Joint seals described in Arts. 4.86 and 4.87 are formed in place; that is, soft masses are put into the joints and conform to their geometry. A gasket, on the other hand, is preformed and placed into a joint whose geometry must conform with the gasket in such a way as to seal the joint by compression of the gasket. Gaskets, however, are cured under shop-controlled conditions, whereas sealants cure under variable and not always favorable field conditions.
Rubbery materials most commonly employed for gaskets are cellular or noncellular (dense) neoprene, EPDM (ethylene-propylene polymers and terpolymers), and polyvinylchloride polymers.
Gaskets are generally compression types or lock-strip (zipper) types. The former are forced into the joint and remain tight by being kept under compression. With lock-strip gaskets, a groove in the gasket permits a lip to be opened and admit glass or other panel, after which a strip is forced into the groove, tightening the gasket in place. If the strip is separable from the gasket, its composition is often harder than the gasket itself.
For setting large sheets of glass and similar units, setting or supporting spacer blocks of rubber are often combined with gaskets of materials such as vulcanized synthetic rubber and are finally sealed with the elastomeric rubber-based sealants or glazing compounds.
