9. Seals, Sealing, & Surface Finish

Module 9 of the Surface Texture and Tribology Short Course

What you'll learn
Types of sealing systems
Effect of waviness on seals
Static Seals, O- Ring Seals, Lip Seals, Engine Seals
Sealing Materials
Requirements
No prerequisites. This module is part of the Surface Texture and Tribology Short Course, so viewing earlier modules is recommended.
Description
Seals are simple or complex systems that keep a fluid or gas separated from another, or that maintain a fluid or gas at a different pressure than its surroundings. Surface texture plays a critical role in how well a seal will function, both when it leaves the factory and after years of service.In this module we discuss various types of sealing systems and show how surface texture impacts their function. We show how waviness (as opposed to surface roughness) impacts sealing, and we review surface texture parameters that can be used to quantify both roughness and waviness in sealing applications. We introduce morphological filtering, a technique for analyzing how well a gasket material will conform to a mating surface. We also revisit the Bearing Ratio (or Material Ratio) curve, which was introduced earlier in this course, and show how it can be applied in the case of engine piston seals. Finally, we review a number of sealing materials and discuss their applications.This is Module 9 of the Surface Texture and Tribology Short Course. The full course is available on udemy, or you can select the individual course modules of interest to you. Enter "surface roughness texture tribology" in the udemy search bar to browse the full course and modules.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 Waviness

Lecture 3 Morphological Filters

Lecture 4 Static Seals

Lecture 5 O-Rings

Lecture 6 Lip Seals

Lecture 7 Engine Seals

Lecture 8 Sealing Materials

Scientists, engineers, technicians and students in the fields of automotive, medical device, aerospace, materials, polymers, and others