Abstract: Disclosed are gasket and seal materials comprising particulate material interconnected and entrapped by fibrillated polytetrafluoroethylene and methods for manufacturing and using them.

Abstract: A sintered filter element for mechanically separating suspended matter from a liquid or gaseous fluid medium to clarify same, comprising at least two laminated, porous, plate-like filter structures having relatively large planar front and rear surfaces joined by relatively small edge surfaces arranged substantially parallel to each other and spaced up to about five, preferably less than one, inches apart. Each filter structure comprises at least two contacting and adhered, substantially coextensive porous layers whose pores are in open communication over substantially all of the interface between their contiguous surfaces so as to permit flow of the fluid medium from one layer to the other. One of the layers is a retention layer for the suspended matter having a pore size sufficiently small substantially to prevent passage of the suspended matter to be removed from the fluid medium and the other of said layers is a supporting layer having a pore size larger than the pore size of the retention layer.