What is the role of O-rings

O-rings are suitable for sealing different liquid and gas media such as water, gas, gasoline, diesel, petroleum, and lubricating oil. On various mechanical equipment, it can seal at a specified temperature, pressure, and in different media environments, in a static or moving state. For example, in hydraulic and pneumatic transmission systems, it is the most widely used seal; in plumbing and bathroom equipment, it can prevent water leakage.

Sealing under different motion states
Static seal: In static seals, O-rings are most widely used. After being installed in the sealing groove, its cross section undergoes elastic deformation under contact compression stress, generating initial contact pressure on the contact surface. Even if there is no medium pressure or the pressure is very small, it can achieve sealing by its own elastic force; when there is a pressure medium, it will move to the low-pressure side, and the elastic deformation will be further increased, filling and closing the gap to achieve a good sealing effect, and the static seal has almost no leakage.

Reciprocating seal: Mainly used in low-pressure hydraulic components (generally limited to short stroke and medium pressure of about 10MPa), small diameter short stroke and medium pressure hydraulic slide valves, pneumatic slide valves and pneumatic cylinders, and can also be used as elastomers in combined reciprocating seals. However, it is not suitable for use as a very low speed reciprocating seal or as a high-pressure reciprocating seal alone, because under these conditions, the friction is large, which will cause the seal to fail prematurely.

Rotary seal: Compared with oil seals and mechanical seals, O-rings have their unique advantages. Although there is a Joule heat effect problem when used for rotary motion, by reasonably designing structural parameters (such as designing the inner diameter to be equal to or slightly larger than the rotating shaft diameter by 3% - 5%, and the cross-sectional compression is about 5%), it can be applied to the sealing of rotating shafts with a maximum speed of 4m/s.

O-rings can protect the service life of the sealed product parts. In some mechanical equipment, it can prevent external dust, impurities, etc. from entering the interior of the equipment, avoiding these impurities from causing wear, corrosion and other damage to the equipment parts, thereby extending the service life of the equipment parts.