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There are a wide range of oil seals to select from for any number of uses, so this guide will break down the most common seals to help you choose the right one for whatever piece of machinery you are working on.
Oil seal manufacturing involves the production of precision-engineered seals designed to prevent the leakage of lubricants and the ingress of contaminants in various industrial and automotive applications. The manufacturing process typically includes the selection of high-quality materials, precision molding or machining, and rigorous quality control measures to ensure the reliability and performance of the oil seals. Advanced manufacturing technologies and expertise are essential for producing oil seals that meet the demanding requirements of diverse industries.
From this kind of standard immersion testing, one would expect that bisphenol-cured VDF/HFP/TFE fluoroelastomers would not give good service life as oil seals. Similar tests with other elastomers, such as HNBR, silicone, and acrylic rubbers, show less loss of elongation. However, it is found that, in actual service, FKM shaft seals6 have much longer service life than seals of the other elastomers. In a Japanese study of FKM lip seals, rear crankshaft seals from high-mileage automobiles (70,000–280,000 mi ie, 110,000–450,000 km) were collected and examined. No serious oil leakage was found when the seals were removed from the engines. Some deposits were found around the seal lip and on the garter spring holding the lip against the shaft. No surface cracks were found on the seal lip, and only minor crazing on the crankcase side of the flexure portion of the seal in some samples. The seal compositions were not noted, but most were probably VDF/HFP/TFE elastomers with 68–69% fluorine content.
A shaft’s surface finishing will determine how effective the sealing will be. The spiral lead and the direction of the finish tool marks have an impact on the sealing effectiveness. Therefore, it’s imperative to ensure that the shaft surface finishing is maintained.