Abstract: A flattened tubular knitted wire mesh is passed through a bath of a slurry comprising a vermiculite binder and a high temperature lubricant powder with optional metal fibers suspended in water to form an impregnated moving slurry filled web. The slurry filled web is passed between metering bars to remove excess slurry to reduce the web to the desired thickness and then dried in an oven at a temperature in the range of about 200-400.degree. F. The web is conveyed at about 5 feet/minute and forms a continuous sheet of flexible preform with a dried filler which is wound on a take up roller driven by a motor via a controller which also operates the web drying oven. The preform is then formed into discrete preforms for article manufacture such as seals and the like by conventional die compression.