Thermo-Chem™ firewall sheets, rope, tape, cloth and tubing are flexible, fire-resistant fabric products used in applications where flame and fuel resistance is required.
Their composition and construction from woven and texturized glass yarns, plain or wire-reinforced, form a non-porous,
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Dorothy Kern, applications engineering manager, Parker O-Ring & Engineered Seals Division.
For some applications, a critical component of selecting a seal material is a phenomenon known
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Dorothy Kern, applications engineering manager for the Parker O-Ring & Engineered Seals Division.
Perhaps you know Parker’s newest EPDM material is EM163-80. Featuring breakthrough low temperature functionality, resistance to all commercially available phosphate ester fluids, and the ability to be made into custom shapes, extrusions, and spliced geometries, EM163-80 represents the best-in-class material for applications needing to seal
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Nathan Wells, Application Engineer, Parker Engineered Polymer Systems Division.
My grandpa used to have a rusty, old air compressor in his shop. As a child, when my siblings and I would visit him, he’d use it to power air wrenches, grinders, and inflate flat soccer balls for us. I noticed it had a port labeled “ADD OIL DAILY” that was covered in the same thick layer of greasy dust as all the other unused junk in his shop. Knowing my grandpa, if asked about adding oil he probably would have said, “Oil is expensive. That’s how the companies get ya!” The compressor’s seals leaked so badly, you could hear the hissing even over the loud motor. I was certain one day it would explode.
Pneumatic tools are common in factories, tool shops, and DIY garages around the world. Using compressed air for power is convenient, simple, and — when maintained properly — safe and efficient. However, air treatment costs can add up fast. Traditional rubber seals used in air tools require clean, low moisture, compressed air with the proper amount of lubrication added. Good Filter/Regulator/Lubricator systems (FRLs) cost as much as the tools themselves! So, what would happen if we didn’t have to provide pristine air?
Today we have the technology to create seals for tools which don’t require daily or even yearly upkeep. You’ll find these tools labeled “maintenance-free,” which sounds great to the guy responsible for maintenance. It sounds even better to the guy paying for maintenance … and to engineers designing tools who want to keep warranty costs down.
Early pressure seals were made out of leather. My grandpa’s compressor probably wasn’t that old, but even since his time, we’ve come a long way.
When I’m asked for seal recommendations in totally dry-running applications, my mind clicks to a material called PTFE (chemical name polytretrafluoroethylene). Most people know PTFE by the brand name Teflon® and are familiar with its use when applied to cookware as a high temperature, slippery, non-stick coating.
PTFE is a semi-hard plastic which feels slick to the touch thanks to its low friction properties. It’s considered self-lubricating because it leaves micro deposits on the sealing surface and reduces friction after just a few strokes. Because of this, it’s good for high-speed sealing and can operate completely dry.
By adding fillers to PTFE, seal manufacturers can tailor materials for greater suitability in meeting performance requirements for a wide range of conditions. String-like additives including fiberglass and carbon fiber increase pressure rating, wear resistance and seal life. Dry lubricant-type additives such as graphite or molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) further increase a seal’s ability to run without lubrication, and at higher speeds and pressures. In pneumatic medical, pharmaceutical, and food processing systems, clean grade mineral-based strengtheners may be used as additives.
PTFE seals for dry running equipment are available in several profile configurations:
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website.
Technology advancements and new-to-world discoveries are constantly creating a new series of challenges for seal materials in the Oil and Gas industry. In today’s environments, seals are being pushed to perform in temperature, pressure and chemical extremes never before thought to be obtainable with rubber products. Application pressures exceeding 20,000 psi, service temperatures ranging from -40°F to upwards of 500°F, and exposure to some of the most aggressive media on the planet are placing immense amounts of stress on sealing elements. Parker’s FF400-80 compound has been formulated to provide a solution to all of these sealing challenges.
Sounds great, but what's the catch?
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Life Sciences Division.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website.
The influential 1999 report To Err is Human (National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine) reported that preventable medical errors caused at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 deaths each year, with total costs of between $17 and $29 billon. One response to that and other reports was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Medication Barcode Rule of 2004, which built on the existing National Drug Code (NDC) — a universal product identifier for drugs. In turn, the FDA Amendment Act of 2007 directed the FDA to create a Unique Device Identifier (UDI) system for most medical devices distributed in the United States.
The FDA UDI Final Rule states: “ Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology means any technology that conveys the UDI or the device identifier of a device in a form that can be entered into an electronic patient record or other computer system via an automated process.” AIDC (aka auto-ID) for medical devices may employ — at least in theory — any automatic data capture technology, including bar codes, radio frequency identification (RFID), magnetic stripe cards, optical character recognition (OCR), smart cards, etc. But from a practical design and user application point-of-view, most medical device designers are looking to either RFID tags or bar code technology.
So, what are the unique advantages of built-in RFID tags for medical devices?
Develop a system that reduces the needle drag and piercing resistance of the septum and injection site materials to increase product performance.
Chemists developed a family of self-lubricated polyisoprene materials that have been manufactured with a proprietary lubricant system and show a minimal reduction of physical and mechanical properties.
By Saman Nanayakkara and Shu Peng
Due to its availability as an ISO 10993 medical grade compound, polyisoprene rubber, which has a unique set of combined mechanical and chemical properties, has been widely used in medical device applications. The material is ideal for septums and injection sites for medical fluid transfer applications. Medical grade polyisoprene compounds have high tear strength and high elastic resilience. These characteristics can provide the desired resealability properties of the septum or injection site after piercing one or more times with a needle.
Medical device manufacturers have long sought a reduction in needle drag or piercing resistance of septum and injection site materials to increase product performance. Post molding surface treatment to modify coefficient of friction is the conventional approach taken to reduce tackiness for improved part handling. This process, however, is a surface treatment for reducing surface friction and does not effectively reduce needle drag, which is caused largely by friction within the septum and injection site materials. Furthermore, this secondary surface treatment adds additional cost to the component.
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Blog.
Can electrically conductive plastics really replace traditional metal electronics enclosures? The answer is a resounding yes! There are very effective electrically conductive plastics available today that provide excellent electromechanical properties that help shield portable electronics from the electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise that is proliferating our daily life. Smart phones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, radio, even your television are all susceptible to EMI. So here are the key points you may want to consider when evaluating electrically conductive plastics for your application:
Every day we encounter EMI, and sometimes it happens at the most inopportune time. Maybe you’ve been put on hold for an hour and just when the customer service agent gets back to you, your cell phone drops the signal. Or perhaps you’re blasting the car radio listening to your favorite song, and just when the chorus comes on, static noise drowns out the tunes as you drive under high tension power lines. These are all examples of EMI interfering with our daily life, and electrically conductive plastics can help shield our portable devices from these interruptions.
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Blog.
In the world of semiconductor manufacturing, performance requirements are driving circuit sizes smaller and smaller, causing increased sensitivity to wafer defects. In parallel, the number of manufacturing steps has also increased driving a need for improved tool utilization and leaving more opportunity for these defects to be introduced. Identifying and eliminating the sources of defects is a tedious but necessary process to improve wafer yield.
One very distinct source of defects are the seals within a fab’s tool. Plasmas involved in both deposition, etch and cleaning processes utilize aggressive chemistries that put even high-functioning perfluorinated sealing compounds to the test. Much room for improvement has been left in this industry with many seal materials still posing significant threats to defectivity or downtime despite being designed for low particle generation or etch resistance.
Parker’s UltraTM FF302 Perfluorelastomer has proven success in CVD and etch applications, putting this material at the top of its class. Typically, seal materials for semiconductor applications are optimized for low particulation or extreme etch resistance, however, Ultra FF302 provides both attributes in one material. Laboratory testing shows Ultra FF302 has lower erosion in aggressive plasma chemistries even when compared to today’s leading elastomeric materials (Figure 1 below shows comparison erosion levels of various etch resistant perfluoroelastmers after exposure to O2 plasma).
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Blog.
When it comes to the topic of utilizing elastomeric seals, it’s stereotypical to consider environmental sealing as one of the simpler categories of applications. Near-ambient pressure and temperature conditions and a lack of exotic or aggressive chemistries are the kinds of details that typically come to mind. However, throw in a curveball or two and suddenly the challenges posed can make finding a solution seem reasonably more intricate.
For instance, consider the potential challenges of sealing off a battery enclosure or other kind of electrical component. While this may seem like a simple issue of finding a material that seals against moisture or fluids found in open-air conditions, manufacturability also needs to be taken into consideration. Many electrical enclosures have particular spatial requirements, including those which involve seal housings that require low closure force or those with sharp corners that could damage more conventional seal designs like solid-profile O-rings. These kinds of conditions are becoming more and more frequent, especially considering the automotive market and its increasing share of electric vehicles, which involve a larger proportion of electrical components in a more compact arrangement for reduced weight. Add to this the fact that these batteries and other electrical components are becoming more elaborate and more expensive as a result, and the need for highly-effective protective sealing design becomes imperative. This is where Parker engineers can design products like picture frames gaskets and hollow profiles that are customized to unique requirements.