Reprinted from

MACHINE DESIGN
April 9, 1981

THE HIDDEN
CAUSE OF
SEAL FAILURE

P.O. BOX 519 , RED BANK, NEW JERSEY 07701 (201) 747-9200
 Blisters and internal cracks indicate that
a seal is interacting with a fluid. Such
DANIEL L. HERTZ, JR.
failures, which are evident only upon
President
close examination of the seal, are
Seals Eastern Inc.
caused by fluid permeating into, and
Red Bank, N. J.
expanding microscopic voids in the

SEAL materials normally are

elastomer.

chosen on the basis of chemical

compatibility with the fluid being
transferred. But even if a seal and
fluid are chemically compatible, they
can still interact physically, leading to
leakage.
Failure results from the fluid
literally burrowing into the seal and
bursting it from the inside.
The reaction produces blisters or
cracks in the seal that eventually
provide a path for fluid leakage. This
problem is especially acute at high
temperatures and high pressures, but

THE HIDDEN it can show up even under less severe

operating conditions.
Work with seals for geothermal
CAUSE OF wells has provided insight on how to
recognize failures caused by
fluid/seal interaction. This research
SEAL FAILURE has also provided some guidance on
how to avoid the problem.
If a seal leaks for no apparent reason, or shows cracks
and blisters, it could be reacting with the fluid it's sealing. How trouble starts
This problem is especially severe if the fluid has a
molecular structure similar to that of the seal elastomer. Fluids interact with seals because
Here's how to recognize if fluid interaction is the cause of no seal material is 100% dense.
seal failure, and how to avoid the problem. Typically, molecular voids or air
spaces make up about 3% of a seal's
volume at
its glass-transition temperature, Fig. having the following properties: It can result from pressure gradients,
1. • High durometer (high shear temperature gradients, external force
Under pressure, fluid diffuses into modulus). fields, or concentration gradients.
these voids and reaches an • High crosslink density. Perhaps the most important factor
equilibrium state at a location called • Low elongation (< 100% ). controlling diffusion is the solubility
the plane of no net molal flow. Any Critical pressure for rupturing is of the fluid in the seal. Solubility is
change in equilibrium creates a simply defined as the speed at which
positive internal pressure in the diffusion occurs and depends on the
voids. If the pressure exceeds a molecular similarity between the seal
critical pressure, Pc, the voids expand, and fluid.
forming a blister or rupture. Solubility of a seal can be
where λb = extension ratio at break,
Blistering is characteristic of described by a so-called solubility
and σb = stress at break, MPa.
highly elastic materials used to seal parameter, δ , which is a function of
Rupture appears as deep internal
supersaturated gases and having the three intermolecular forces,
fissures parallel to the diffusion
following physical properties.
plane. The cracks begin at voids, and
• Low durometer (low shear
the fracture propagates at high speed
modulus).
until internal energy dissipates
• Low crosslink density.
enough to arrest crack growth.
• High elongation (>200%).
The critical pressure for blistering
is
Factors controlling Dispersion forces, δd, are
interaction common to all matter. They are
omni-directional and are the major
The amount of interaction forces holding molecules together.
between a seal and fluid depends on These forces, which increase with
the amount of fluid diffusion into molecular weight, are the primary
the seal. Diffusion, the net transport source of a material's physical
where E = Young's modulus, MPa.
of material in the absence of mixing, properties.
Blisters usually appear as small
is controlled by the molecular Dipole forces, δp, also called
bubbles or "scales" on the seal
structure, solubility, and orientation-electrostatic forces, are
surface.
glass-transition temperature of the generated when the vector sums of
Rupture or fracture is
seal material. the various atomic bond
characteristic of linear elastic
materials
 or rupture might be a problem,
several steps can be taken to avoid
trouble. The primary factors
controlling a seal's resistance to these
types of failure are critical pressure,
flaw size, and shear modulus. Fig. 2
shows the relationship between these
factors.
Because critical pressure and flaw
size are inherent properties of a
material, they cannot be changed
easily. However, shear modulus,
which is directly related to material
hardness, can be changed by altering
crosslink density or adding
reinforcing fillers.
Crosslink density indicates the
number of connections between the
polymer chains that make up a seal. It
usually is measured in terms of the
average number of structural units
between links. Thus, a material with a
high crosslink density has few
structural units between links.
Fig. 3 shows the relationship
between crosslink density and shear
modulus for a typical elastomer. This
figure indicates that increasing
crosslink density can increase shear
modulus by three orders of
angles do not cancel, thus creating a between the elastomer and fluid magnitude.
dipole. These forces are highly indicates a high probability of fluid The crosslink density of a material
directional, and they act to form solubility in the seal and the can be increased by curing it in the
polymers with complex geometries. possibility of blistering or rupture presence of various chemicals. This
Charge-transfer forces, δh, include failure. Tables 1 and 2 list solubility additional curing has the effect of
several smaller intermolecular parameter values for some typical increasing the hardness of the
forces, all of which are relatively gases and fluoroelastomer seal material without changing its
directional. materials. molecular structure.
Solubility parameters can be
calculated for both seal materials and Avoiding problems
fluids. Typically, a difference of four
or less δ units If a check of solubility parameters
indicates that blistering
 as shown in Fig. 4
Besides increasing elastomer strength,
fillers help prevent failure by inhibiting
crack growth. They act as physical barriers
that deflect a crack from a straight-line path,
thus dissipating fracture energy more
quickly.
A more difficult way to increase shear
modulus is to increase percent crystallinity,
Fig. 5. Percent crystallinity is the fraction of
the total polymer that is in the crystalline
state. In a highly crystalline material,
interchain bonds are strong, and the chains
cannot slide past one another to relieve
stress. In a non-crystalline (or amorphous)
material, interchain bonds are weak, and the
chains are free to move and rearrange
themselves under stress (a process called
Brownian motion).
Crystallinity can be increased with a
number of processing techniques. A typical
method is to heat the material and then
allow it to cool slowly. In this way, the
chains can arrange themselves closely as the
material cools.
Another way to avoid failures from
fluid/seal interactions is to use a material
with a high molecular weight. In such
materials, many polymer chains lie across
the path of a potential crack; thus, fracture
energy is dissipated quickly. However,
high-molecular-weight materials are difficult
and expensive to process into seal shapes.

Bibliography
1. D. L. Hertz, Jr., "Sour Hydrocarbons
- The Elastomer Challenge," Meeting
of the Rubber Div., American
Chemical Society, Las Vegas, Nev.,
May 20-23, 1980.
2. A. N. Gent, "Strength of Elastomers”,
in Science and Technology of
Rubber, F. R. Eirich, editor,
Academic Press, New York, 1978.
3. L. E. Nielsen, "The Mechanical
Properties of Polymers," Second
Technical Session, ASTM Geothermal
Task Group, Minneapolis,
Minn., June 26, 1979.

Fillers act as reinforcements to reinforcement can be measured. In

improve the strength of elastomers. some cases, fillers can improve
While the exact mechanics of how strength by an order of magnitude.
fillers improve strength are not yet However, the improvement is limited
fully understood, the effects of filler to a narrow range of operating
temperatures,

Copyright 1981 by Penton/IPC, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio 44114