Can anyone advise on the susceptibility of flexible graphite (trade names "Grafoil", "Papyex" etc.) to explosive decompression (ED) or rapid gas decompression (RGD) in a multi-phase hydrocarbon production environment?

The application I am considering does not involve sealing with flexible graphite, rather, the flexible graphite is only being used as a compliant spacer between 2 parts.

What is the temp of your application?  Can you use PEEK? or PTFE.  I have successfully used flexible graphite as backup rings or fire safe seals behind primary seals which experienced ED, however I did not examine the grafoil rings thoroughly.  However, no obvious ED damage occurred in any of these applications which you might typical see on a non EDR O-Ring. 

dsheet05, thank you for the response. The temperature is 450