Seals and Sealing Handbook, Fifth Edition
An introduction to the subject of sealing technology, this book provides an understanding of the issues involved and sufficient information to assist with achieving reliable and effective sealing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Seals and Sealing Handbook, Fifth Edition
Chapter 5: Materials
The material used to manufacture seals covers the entire range of engineering materials. Metals, plastics, elastomers and ceramics are all widely used and will be discussed in turn. In some cases materials, such as some specialist elastomers, have been primarily developed to cater with the demands of sealing and related industries. Similarly some of the specialist fibrous materials have been developed to provide the properties required for packing and gasket materials.
This chapter describes the basic properties of the major material classes that are used for seals. Some aspects of the application of the materials is very specific to the type of seal. For this reason the description of materials specifically used for packing and gaskets is primarily included in the sections discussing these seal types.
5.1 Elastomers
Elastomers are very widely used and potential applications cover the full range of static and dynamic seals. They are also a key component of other seal types. For instance the majority of mechanical seals contain several elastomer seals and these are often one of the limiting components in the fluid resistance and temperature range of the seal. There is quite often a severe lack of understanding of elastomer materials even among those who use them regularly. The properties and capabilities of the individual material types vary enormously, as we shall see in the following sections. Even within an individual type of elastomer the potential range of properties is extremely wide and very dependent on the formulation of the ingredients and the manufacturing...
Copyright Elsevier Ltd. 2007 under license agreement with Books24x7
