There are four common failure reasons for rubber parts: design errors, material selection errors, seal quality problems and improper use.
Design errors are often caused by the designer's lack of awareness of the product. For example, the pressure on the seal is underestimated, the understanding of the contact stress distribution on the sealing surface is wrong, and the design of the groove for placing the seal is unreasonable. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is often used to assist in seal design and failure analysis. In order to successfully analyze and predict the performance of rubber parts, it is necessary not only to have suitable finite element analysis software, but also to have rich material experience, modeling experience and long-term data accumulation.
Wrong material selection: Commonly used rubber sealing materials are EPDM, nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), silicone rubber (VMQ), fluorine rubber (FKM or FPM) and neoprene (CR). These rubbers have different properties and different applications. The selection of materials should be considered from many aspects, such as the use temperature, whether the material is resistant to the medium, the hardness of the material, compression deformation and wear resistance and other factors.
Material selection errors are often the result of designers being unfamiliar with the properties of various materials. An experienced rubber parts supplier can point out material selection issues right from the start.
Seal quality:
The production quality of seals is closely related to the reliability of the final product. Common problems include: unstable raw material quality, wrong raw materials during rubber mixing, improper storage of raw materials or mixed rubber (cross-contamination), uneven mixing of rubber materials, improper vulcanization conditions (temperature, time, pressure, etc.), Improper storage of seal products, improper use of molds, etc. These issues often involve quality control in the production process. When the orderer chooses the seal manufacturer, he should go through many inspections, investigations and product tests. In the process of supply, the manufacturer of seals can also be required to provide a true and accurate inspection report.
Improper use of seals:
A good seal, if used improperly, can also cause the entire product to fail, such as the wrong use of lubricating oil.
Another common type of problem is installation errors. For example, there is a twist during the assembly of the O-ring; uneven pressure on the seal due to improper installation; insufficient lubrication of the seal and other errors. If these errors are caused by the manufacturer of the seal, then this is within the scope of production quality control. If it is caused by the ordering party or a third party, it is an improper use. Reasonable design is one of the important factors to ensure the effective use of seals.
