When selecting a ball valve, seat material determines performance, longevity, and reliability. The seat forms the sealing surface and plays a decisive role in how the valve handles pressure, temperature, and wear.
Two main valve seat types exist: metal seat ball valves and soft seat ball valves. While both have a place in valve design, the difference in performance becomes clear once real-world conditions come into play. For demanding applications, metal seat valves provide superior results, especially when supplied by ValvTechnologies.
What is a Metal Seat Ball Valve?
A metal seat ball valve uses a hard metal-to-metal interface between the ball and seat to achieve a secure seal. The sealing surfaces are coated with advanced materials such as tungsten carbide or chromium carbide, providing outstanding resistance to wear, corrosion, and thermal damage.
The primary advantage of metal seated valves is their ability to withstand high temperatures and severe service conditions. These valves can handle extreme environments, including severe flashing, hydraulic shock, and abrasive process fluids, with operating temperatures up to and exceeding 1,500°F.
Metal seats can also be hardened through coatings and techniques like thermal spray coating, stellite hard facing, chromium carbide, and tungsten carbide, further improving their durability and sealing integrity.
ValvTechnologies’ metal seat ball valves are designed to deliver zero leakage and eliminate secondary leak paths, even under the toughest pressure and temperature extremes. Built for endurance, these valves continue to perform where softer materials fail, minimizing downtime and long-term maintenance costs.
What is a Soft Seat Ball Valve?
Soft seat ball valves use non-metallic materials like PTFE or other thermoplastics to form the sealing surface. They are suitable for clean, light-duty service where chemical compatibility and tight sealing are important.
They typically operate best in medium/low-pressure environments and are suitable for working temperatures below 500°F. However, soft seats are not recommended for process fluids that are dirty or abrasive. They can break down in these environments, leading to leakage and performance loss. Their flexibility is also their weakness, because soft seats can deform, wear, or chemically degrade under stress, resulting in short service life and frequent valve maintenance.
Metal Seat vs. Soft Seat Ball Valve Comparison
Feature | Metal Seat Ball Valve | Soft Seat Ball Valve |
Temperature Resistance | Handles extreme heat and cold (up to 1,500°F) | Limited by material type |
Pressure Rating | Suitable for high-pressure systems | Moderate pressure capacity |
Wear Resistance | Excellent with hard coatings | Poor in abrasive media |
Leakage Prevention | Tight shutoff, no secondary leak path | Prone to deformation and valve leakage |
Maintenance Frequency | Low, long service intervals | Requires more frequent servicing |
Lifecycle Cost | Higher initial, lower lifetime cost | Lower initial, higher lifetime cost |
Across almost all demanding services, metal seat ball valves outperform soft seat designs by maintaining tight shutoff and durability through harsh operating conditions.
Why ValvTechnologies Leads in Metal Seat Design
ValvTechnologies has set the standard for metal seat valve technology worldwide. Proprietary coatings, precision machining, and advanced sealing systems enable long-term, leak-free performance.
Every valve is engineered to eliminate secondary leak paths and maintain tight shutoff through years of continuous service. Built for longevity, ValvTechnologies valves are designed for those who expect their equipment to perform under the harshest conditions, not be replaced frequently.
Recommended Applications
Metal seat ball valves are ideal for:
- Power generation (steam, condensate, feedwater)
- Oil and gas refining and production
- Chemical processing and petrochemical plants
- Mining and slurry service
- Pulp and paper processing
- High-temperature / abrasive applications
These environments demand durability and leak-free operation that soft seat valves cannot deliver.
Contact ValvTechnologies today to specify the right valve for your operation and experience the reliability of true metal seat engineering. We also manufacture trunnion ball valves, coking valves, switching valves, slurry valves, and check valves.