Selection of automotive seals

Selection of automotive seals
High engine temperatures, extended warranties and efforts to reduce emissions all require high-quality rubber sealing products. Rubber has excellent resistance to high temperature and pressure conditions, making it the perfect material for sealing and protection in automotive environments.

A wide variety of sealing solutions are used in today's vehicles. These include high-pressure O-rings in shock absorbers, precision gaskets in Electronic Control Units (ECUs), safety-critical custom-molded components in braking systems, and seals in fuel injectors exposed to extreme temperatures, pressures, and aggressive media pieces.

There is a range of compounds that offer enormous advantages to automotive companies seeking to meet stringent industry requirements, while presenting opportunities to gain a competitive advantage. Suitable materials include: Viton® / FKM, AEM, HNBR, PTFE and FFKM.

VITON® (Viton)
Viton® is a versatile material capable of handling a wide variety of applications, especially sealing jobs involving motion. It has excellent resistance to fuels, oils and fluids. Combined with its excellent heat resistance, Viton® O-rings are extremely versatile and remain the material of choice for demanding fuel system and powertrain applications.

Atomic Energy Electron Microscope
AEM (Vamac®) has been successfully used in automotive hose applications. This material provides a cost-effective method for a variety of challenging under-hood applications including power steering, engine and transmission oil cooler hoses, ignition cables, spark plug shoes or main wiring.
HNBR (Hydrogenated Nitrile)
The automotive market is the largest consumer of HNBR. This material is used in many dynamic and static seals, hoses and belts. HNBR has excellent resistance to the most common automotive fluids including engine oils, coolants and fuels. Its unique properties and higher temperature rating make HNBR ideal for applications requiring higher performance.

fluororubber
FFKM (perfluoroelastomer) compounds are designed for severe sealing applications that need to withstand aggressive chemical and high heat environments. FFKM compounds combine the advantages of PTFE with the elastic properties of Viton® / FKM. They have excellent resistance to a wide variety of fluids and chemicals including automotive lubricants, fuels and additives. Typical end-use products include O-rings, seals, gaskets and complex molded parts. In general, FFKM compounds are used only when very high application specifications cannot be met by other materials.
Neoprene

Even with today's wide selection of specialty elastomers, neoprene remains the choice for many under-hood and underbody components that require an affordable, mid-performance polymer with a good balance of all-round properties.

FEP PTFE encapsulated O-rings
FEP Encapsulated O-Rings consist of a Viton® or silicone rubber elastomer core that has been seamlessly encapsulated in a PTFE (Teflon®) fluoropolymer jacket. These o-rings handle surface wear well, offering excellent corrosion and abrasion resistance, impermeability, chemical inertness, and low absorption. They also operate over a wide temperature range of -60°C to +200°C (Silicone FEP) and -20°C to +200°C (Viton® FEP).
It is worth noting that pure PTFE O-rings are very stiff and difficult to apply, which makes them more suitable for static applications. PTFE O-rings are commonly used in automotive steering gear and paint spray guns.

Standard sealing materials often cannot meet the unique requirements of consumers. Aesthetic and functional requirements as well as regulatory constraints call for more adaptive solutions. Unlike the manufacture of plastic parts, the manufacture of rubber parts requires extensive experience to get the right results. Knowledge and experience of how a material behaves during processing is critical to any automotive application.

Modern high-performance engines require sealing solutions that provide optimum performance in terms of operational reliability and service life. Engine seals ensure that fluids, coolants, oil and air do not leak from the external or internal passages of the internal combustion engine. Cylinders are tightly sealed for maximum compression within the engine cylinders.

A range of materials have the ability to withstand fuel and high temperatures. These materials include Viton® / FKM, HNBR and FFKM elastomers. These materials are suitable for fuel injection seals, fuel pump seals, manifold gaskets and diaphragms.

Transmission oil seals are primarily designed to stop fluid leakage to maintain the required pressure inside the engine. Automotive transmission seal materials used vary by manufacturer and, in some cases, by the type of seal within the transmission. AEM (Vamac®) is the most common elastomer, although various fluorocarbon (Viton® / FKM) elastomers are also used. Both materials have their advantages and disadvantages. AEM degrades faster than Viton®. Standard fluorocarbons have good fluid resistance but poor low temperature flexibility. Therefore, specialist Viton®/FKM grades must be chosen, but they come at a price.

Harsh engine environments and strict emissions regulations demand the highest quality rubber. Eastern Seals offer a range of seals and gaskets with a high level of performance. From general purpose elastomers such as standard NBR to specialty grades HNBR, Viton® and FFKM, our range of materials supports a wide variety of automotive applications.

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