A reinforcing member made from a fibrous material and disposed at least on
one face of a strip-like expanded graphite to form a strip-like base
member. The base member is stranded to be formed as a cord-like member.
At this time, one side end edge of the base member is placed on the outer
peripheral surface of the cord-like member, and, in the side end edge,
the strip-like expanded graphite is more elongated in the width direction
than the reinforcing member. The stranding of the base member is applied
while the strip-like expanded graphite which is elongated in the width
direction is placed on the inner side, and the reinforcing member which
is short in the width direction is placed on the outer side. According to
the configuration, both the reinforcing member and the strip-like
expanded graphite are placed in a spiral manner to be alternately
arranged in the axial direction on the outer peripheral surface of the
cord-like member.