Swagelok VCR Metal Gasket Face Seal Fitting
Overview
Swagelok VCR metal gasket face seal fittings are precision connection components designed for high-purity and high-integrity tubing systems where an elastomer O-ring seal is unsuitable because of temperature, chemical incompatibility, or the risk of outgassing into a sensitive process. Rather than sealing on a compressed elastomer, the VCR fitting seals face-to-face against a thin, replaceable metal gasket clamped between two identical fitting bodies, giving a leak-tight metal-to-metal joint that can be broken down and reassembled repeatedly for calibration, maintenance, or system reconfiguration without degrading the seal.
As a regional supplier of Swagelok products, Seven Star LLC supplies VCR metal gasket face seal fittings to industrial buyers across Oman and the wider GCC, with manufacturer documentation and application engineering support delivered from within the region. Analytical laboratories, semiconductor and specialty gas facilities, and high-purity process skids across Muscat and Sohar rely on this traceable supply chain for gasket and fitting sets that meet exact system requirements.
Operating Principle
The Swagelok VCR fitting works on a simple but precise mechanical principle: two mating fitting bodies, each machined with a flat sealing face and a shallow gasket retaining groove, are drawn together by a coupling nut so that a thin metal gasket is compressed evenly between the two faces. As the nut is torqued down, the gasket deforms slightly into the mating grooves on both sides, creating a continuous metal-to-metal contact line around the full circumference of the port rather than relying on elastomeric compression. This produces a seal capable of holding vacuum to high positive pressure with negligible permeation, which is the key requirement in ultra-high-purity gas delivery, analytical instrumentation, and vacuum system tubing.
Because the gasket is a separate, inexpensive, single-use component rather than a fixed part of either fitting body, a VCR joint can be opened and reclosed for system modification, gasket inspection, or contamination control simply by replacing the gasket — the fitting bodies themselves are reusable indefinitely under normal service. This is a significant practical advantage over welded or brazed joints in systems that must be periodically reconfigured, and over O-ring face seals in systems where elastomer permeation or outgassing would compromise gas purity or vacuum integrity.
Engineering Design of the Swagelok VCR
Mechanically, the Swagelok VCR product line is machined from high-purity stainless steel in sizes from 1/16 in. to 1 in. and 6 mm to 18 mm, and is available as male connectors, female connectors, unions, bulkhead unions, glands, caps, plugs, and weld fittings, covering essentially every connection point in a high-purity tubing run from the tube itself through to an instrument, valve, or manifold inlet. Gaskets are supplied in nickel as the standard material, with copper and silver-plated stainless steel options for applications requiring different hardness, corrosion resistance, or compatibility with specific process gases.
The fitting bodies are manufactured to tight face-flatness and groove-depth tolerances so that gasket compression is repeatable from one assembly to the next, which is essential in laboratory and semiconductor environments where a leak-checked joint must perform identically every time it is reassembled after maintenance. Weld-end VCR fittings allow the connection point itself to be permanently welded into a tubing run while still providing a serviceable, gasket-sealed break point for the instrument or component beyond it, combining the integrity of an orbital weld with the flexibility of a mechanical face seal joint.
Key Features
The VCR product line gives high-purity system designers a single connection standard across an entire gas delivery or vacuum system. Its key features include:
- Metal-to-metal face seal design with no elastomer in the sealing path, eliminating permeation and outgassing risk.
- Sizes from 1/16 in. to 1 in. and 6 mm to 18 mm in high-purity stainless steel construction.
- Reusable fitting bodies with an inexpensive, replaceable gasket for repeated system reconfiguration.
- Gasket material options in nickel, copper, and silver-plated stainless steel for different chemical and hardness requirements.
- Full connection range: male and female connectors, unions, bulkheads, glands, caps, plugs, and weld fittings.
- Suitable from vacuum service through high positive pressure in the same fitting family.
- Compact face-to-face design that minimizes dead volume in analytical and semiconductor gas systems.
- Tight, repeatable face-flatness and groove tolerances for consistent leak-checked reassembly.
Industrial Applications
The Swagelok VCR metal gasket face seal fitting is specified wherever a tubing system must remain free of elastomer permeation or particle generation, including specialty and ultra-high-purity gas delivery in semiconductor fabrication, analytical instrumentation and gas chromatography sample lines, vacuum system tubing in research and industrial laboratories, and high-purity process piping in pharmaceutical manufacturing. In each of these Swagelok VCR applications, the ability to disassemble and reassemble a joint repeatedly without degrading seal performance is as important as the seal integrity itself.
As the trusted supplier for Swagelok, Seven Star LLC supplies VCR fittings and gasket sets to analytical laboratories, oil and gas sampling systems, and specialty gas users across the Sohar and Salalah economic zones and throughout the Sultanate of Oman, as well as to industrial and research facilities across the wider GCC. Because high-purity systems typically standardize on a single fitting family across the entire tubing run, Seven Star LLC’s genuine VCR stock and gasket inventory allow a facility to complete a full system build-out or maintenance turnaround without sourcing components from multiple suppliers.
Technical Specifications
The Swagelok VCR table below summarizes the principal design and material parameters, and every Swagelok VCR component supplied by Seven Star LLC is built to this specification.
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Model | Swagelok VCR Metal Gasket Face Seal Fitting |
| Sizes | 1/16 in. to 1 in.; 6 mm to 18 mm |
| Body Material | High-purity stainless steel |
| Gasket Materials | Nickel (standard), copper, silver-plated stainless steel |
| Configurations | Male/female connectors, unions, bulkheads, glands, caps, plugs, weld fittings |
| Service Range | Vacuum to high positive pressure |
| Sealing Method | Metal-to-metal face seal via compressed replaceable gasket |
| Typical Application | High-purity gas delivery, analytical instrumentation, vacuum systems |
Request a Quote for Swagelok VCR
For Swagelok VCR components, Seven Star LLC invites laboratory managers, process engineers, and gas system integrators in Oman and across the GCC to submit a formal RFQ for Swagelok VCR metal gasket face seal fittings and gasket sets. Common sizes and gasket materials are supplied on request with lead time confirmed at quotation, technical datasheets are available on request, and our instrumentation division can advise on fitting configuration and gasket material selection for your specific gas or vacuum system. In Oman and the GCC, Seven Star LLC supplies VCR components on request, with manufacturer documentation and locally based technical support.
Browse the full Swagelok range or see more Fittings & Valves products supplied by Seven Star LLC in Oman and the GCC.
Swagelok product families listed here
The items on this page cover the small-bore components an instrument technician handles most often. Swagelok tube fittings join metric and fractional tubing without threading or welding. Swagelok ball valves are represented by the 40 series, the 40G series one-piece instrumentation ball valve (for example SS-43GS4) and the three-way pattern listed as 40GX. The SS-1RS4 is an integral bonnet needle valve from the 1 series. VCR metal gasket face seal fittings serve high-purity and vacuum lines, QC series quick-connects are used where lines are coupled and uncoupled often, and the KPR series is a pressure-reducing regulator.Where Swagelok components are used
Typical duties are transmitter hook-ups, manifolds and impulse tubing, analyzer shelters and sample conditioning panels, chemical injection skids, gas cylinder panels in laboratories, and test benches. In oil and gas service across the GCC, the usual questions are material grade, pressure rating at temperature and, for sour service, whether the manufacturer offers the item to NACE MR0175 requirements.Ordering Swagelok fittings and valves: what we need
A Swagelok ordering number carries most of the specification. In SS-43GS4, SS is 316 stainless steel, 43G identifies the valve series and size, and S4 is a 1/4 in. Swagelok tube fitting end connection. Send the complete ordering number including any suffix for handle, seat or cleaning option. If you do not have it, give us the tube outside diameter and wall thickness, body material, end connections on each port, working pressure and temperature, and the fluid. For a KPR regulator we also need inlet pressure, the outlet control range and the port configuration.Browse Swagelok products by category: Pipes & Fittings, Regulators, Fittings & Valves.
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