All Types of Heat Exchanger Gasket and Plates- Heat exchanger gasket is a term used for gaskets used in shell and tube type heat exchangers. This is usually a metal jacketed gasket with a soft filler for higher temperatures. The styles, materials, configurations are limitless. A plate heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses metal plates to transfer heat between two fluids. This has a major advantage over a conventional heat exchanger in that the fluids are exposed to a much larger surface area because the fluids are spread out over the plates.