Kelseal Rubber Mouldings Group is a specialist commercial moulding manufacturer supplying to various industries throughout Australia. Unfortunately we do not do small non commercial runs of less than 1000 on washers, seals or rings.
Seals
In its most basic form, a seal is a ring captured in a groove and is designed to control fluid leakage in reciprocating, oscillating, or rotary motion applications. From this basic function you can derive a multitude of applications, such as seals for rods and pistons, wipers to prevent ingress of foreign matter, or protection devices such as buffer seals.
Common materials used to make seals can be natural rubber, nitrile, neoprene, silicone and viton. Typically, the material type is determined by the specific operating conditions or limits due to pressure, fluid chemical compatibility or temperature.
Food Approved Seals
FDA rubber compounds Kelseal Rubber Mouldings Group use all comply with Paragraph 177.2600 of Title 21, Sub-Paragraphs a) through d), Code of Federal Regulations, “Rubber Articles Intended for Repeated Use.”
It should be noted that the Food and Drug Administration does not actually approve any rubber compounds. Rather it publishes a list of permissible ingredients and the maximum allowable concentration of each.
These ingredients are broken down into the following categories: Elastomers, Vulcanisation Agents, Accelerators, Retarders, Activators, Antioxidants and Antizonants, Plasticizers, Fillers, Colours, Lubricants, Emulsifiers and Miscellaneous.
It is the responsibility of the manufacturer, or the compound supplier, to ensure that FDA compounds are formulated according to these guidelines, and are cured under conditions of good manufacturing practice. Unless otherwise specified, all compounds are black in colour and sulphur cured.
Rod Seals
Of all the seals in a cylinder application, the rod seal is the most critical. The importance lies in the fact that rod seal failure could result in leakage of fluids to the environment, and that it will typically see the harshest service conditions. Rod seal failure is not only a mess, but it is detrimental to proper cylinder performance and safety. The key features of any rod seal are:
- The rod seal acts as a dynamic seal along its inner diameter, and static along its outer diameter.
- It is directly affected by changes to the rod surface and fluid temperature fluctuations.
- Often sees the highest pressure variations or spikes in the system.
Depending on the level pressure range of the system and the fluid compatibility, Kelseal Rubber Mouldings Group offers several different options of rod seals.
