Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Blog.
Our applications engineering team takes more than a few calls each month where the O-ring is leaking, either immediately or after just a short time in service. Once we drill down to the details, we learn the failure mode is an improperly sized groove and O-ring. It isn’t all that uncommon for a groove to be cut in a flange and a novice designer learns the hard way that standard O-rings cannot fit in just any groove geometry. For hardware that has already been machined, frustration ensues as the caller learns the O-ring solution requires tooling. Tooling can have a lead time of at least a month to cut and can cost thousands of dollars. Parker offers a TetraSeal® solution, which often does not require tooling and can be made of many of the same materials used for O-rings.
The TetraSeal is a circular precision-cut seal with a square cross-section. Unlike O-rings which require a unique mold for each material family and size, TetraSeals are extruded, cured and machine cut to the target thickness. Our manufacturing facilities in both Spartanburg, South Carolina and Goshen, Indiana are tooled in a variety of interchangeable extrusion dies, making this type of seal an easily sourced seal solution without the lead time and cost of a custom molded O-ring.
Transportation / Automotive bushings require regular maintenance and greasing, and are prone to wear especially in wet or dirty conditions. Self-lubricating Vesconite and Vesconite Hilube eliminate the need for continual greasing and at the same time increases bushing life. Vesconite and Vesconite Hilube are tough and durable and perform well under the mechanical stress that occurs on vehicle suspension systems.
South Africa - Vesconite flanged pivot bushings have been successfully installed and used on container trailers at the national rail utility. The Vesconite bushes, with a flange of 205 mm diameter and a bore of 165 mm, were fitted to the walking beam center pivot bearing that equalizes component parts of the rear axle bogies. This heavy duty application required a material which had high load carrying capacity, low friction, high wear resistance and good dimensional stability. Vesconite, with all these characteristics, was used on the trailers that are used to transport 12-m-long general purpose containers.
GYLON EPIX™ is a family of gaskets that effectively seals a broader range of applications and is more forgiving during the installation process. It allows the end user to save valuable turn-around time, reduce re-work, and lower costs, helping them to finish ahead of schedule and under budget.
GYLON EPIX™ features a hexagonal surface profile that provides the torque retention and blowout resistance of a thin gasket and the conformability of a thicker gasket. GYLON EPIX™ Style 3504 EPX is a high performance, aluminosilicate microsphere filled PTFE sheet material designed for use in moderate concentrations of acids, and caustics, as well as hydrocarbons, refrigerants, and more.
Chemical
Phosphate Processor
One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is the conversion to a resource-conserving, sustainable economy. With this in mind, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is offering customers its FluoroXprene® family of materials to help contribute to this transformation. Originally developed for use in fuel lines, these materials have the potential for use in new, challenging applications thanks to their outstanding characteristics.
FluoroXprene was developed to reduce the permeation of fuel vapors through the walls of fuel lines. This permeation makes a notable contribution to a vehicle’s hazardous emissions. But it is often overlooked when considering total emissions. FluoroXprene reduces the escape of fuel vapors through the walls of fuel hoses into the atmosphere, slashing them to a fraction of their usual amounts. And this is not just the case for standard fuels – alternative plant-based fuels such as E10 and E85 are also securely contained by FluoroXprene materials.
Avoid Leakage and Support a More Accurate System
There are many applications in industrial settings where fluid must be sealed and released in calibrated quantities. Some examples include pressure regulators, relief values, fuel nozzles, or gas metering. Specifically a demand flow regulator is designed for use with various industrial instruments and uses a pump to draw the calibration of gas. It is crucial that there is no leakage of the fluid for the system to operate properly.
Parker Composite Sealing Systems Division designs different poppets to help control leakage in flow control applications. Our poppet is used to help keep the demand flow regulators in the “closed” position. And when the user “demands” gas flow, a diaphragm pushes down on the seat stem of the Poppet to help monitor the flow of gas.
GYLON EPIX™ is a newly developed family of PTFE gaskets. It is manufactured using a patented, profiled surface based on our proven Fawn, Off-White, and Blue GYLON® to create highly conformable materials for optimum sealing performance.
GYLON EPIX™ and a traditional full face gasket were installed in a 3”-150# flat face flange at 120 ft.lbs. with pressure sensitive film. The film revealed that the traditional material saw heavier loading-near and around the bolts, and lighter loading at the points furthest from the bolts. The GYLON EPIX™ was able to distribute the load more evenly and prevent the low loading phenomenon.
The pressure sensitive film was then analyzed with special software that translate the various shades of red into a full color spectrum that provides a better visualization of the stresses that were developed on each of the gaskets. Again, while the traditional gasket saw areas of lower stress (green and blue areas), the hexagonal pattern in the GYLON EPIX™ concentrated and distributed the stress more evenly across the entire gasket.
Air Sentry® set the standard for contamination control breather technology in 1997, creating new state-of-the-art features that reduced particulate and moisture contamination. This innovative breather line was the first to integrate check valve technology and the first to offer replacement desiccant/filter cartridges, significantly reducing maintenance costs.
Air Sentry's GUARDIAN® is the industry-leading breather series. It's casing is constructed from Tritan®, a patented material highly resistant to impact and chemicals, with a broad range of operating temperatures. Some models also incorporate an isolation check valve, which keeps exhaust air from depleting the desiccant and also protects employees from volatile fumes and splashing fluids. These unique features equate to a longer life for your breather and your equipment.
GUARDIAN's modular construction and optional add-on features allow you to customize each GUARDIAN model to your specific application requirements. Because of these options we're going to discuss, your GUARDIAN will last longer and reduce downtime, giving you the flexibility you need to protect your industrial assets.
HIGH-CAPACITY AIR FILTER
Can be used with a desiccant cartridge or as a standalone particle filter. The filter's 0.3-micron HEPA filter is 99.97% efficient, making it ideal for extremely dirty/dusty environments.
Gallagher Fluid Seals recently posted our new Fluoroelastomer Basics webinar on gallagherseals.com. This is the second section of our webinar, focusing on Fluoroelastomer Materials. The full video is now available on our Resources page.
This section of the video discusses different fluoroelastomer materials, along with their mechanical and physical properties, and in which applications they're normally found.
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