O-Ring damaging

The O-Ring integrity is fundamental at the end of the seal. Their duration is linked to the compatibility with the exercise conditions. Temperature, pressure and the fluid aggressiveness in which they come into contact influence the O-Ring behaviour with their effect upon the compound. When a leakage is present in a system as a result of a damaged O-Ring, in a particular way when the life duration of the ring is inferior to that foreseen during the design phase, it is very important to return to the causes that provoked the damage and try to resolve it. The appearance analysis of the damaged O-Ring can help to single out the cause of the break. It is necessary to take into account which situations influence the O-Ring's chemical and physics characteristics, considering that in many cases we have the combined action of two or more factors:

• compound compatibility with the contact fluids;
• exercise temperature and pressure;
• correct storing;
• correct assemble;
• correct housing design;
• careful maintenance operations.

Every compound in its own way to the solicitations, but the visible damage to the rings can lead us to identify which actions to carry out to improve the seal system efficiency.