Wednesday, 13 December 2017

Piston assembly part 2 - pondering rings

Thanks to HB's Bluecold for the reference to Erik's technical o-ring manual.

The answer to my question is found within:

"Spiral failure sometimes occurs on reciprocating O-rings.

The conditions which cause this type of failure are those which cause segments of the O- ring to slide and other segments to roll simultaneously. The twisted seal is forced by the pressure into the sharp corner at the clearance gap. Rapid stress-aging can cause a rupture of the O-ring to start adjacent to the clearance gap. Motion of the O-ring causes the rupture to penetrate about half way through the cross section. Thus, when the O-ring is removed from the gland, it returns to its original shape and the rupture appears as a tight spiral around the cross section. One of the primary causes of spiral failure is by reciprocating speeds of less than one foot (0,3 m) per minute and on low or balanced pressure components. At this low speed, the sliding, or running, seal friction is very high relative to the break-out friction.

Therefore O-ring seals are not recommended for speeds less than 1 foot (0,3 m) per minute when the pressure difference is less than 400 psi (27,5 bar)."


Of course, it's possible that o-rings will work just fine, but perhaps may fail earlier.

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