The Influence of Oil and Thermal Aging on the Sealing Characteristics of NBR Seals

Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) is widely used as a sealing material due to its excellent mechanical properties and good oil resistance. However, when using NBR material, the seal structure is unable to avoid the negative effects of rubber aging. Hence, the influence of oil and thermal aging on the characteristics of NBR seals was studied by coupling the mechanical behavioral changes with the tribological behavioral changes of NBR in oil and the thermal environment. For this paper, aging testing and compression testing of NBR were carried out. Additionally, friction testing between friction pairs under different aging times was carried out. The surface morphology of the NBR working surface under different aging conditions was also observed. Finally, coefficients of different test conditions were introduced into the finite element model of NBR seals. It can be seen from the results that the elastic modulus increased with the increase in aging time in the thermal oxidative aging testing. The elastic modulus after 7 days of thermal oxidative aging increased by 135.45% compared to the unaged case, and the elastic modulus after 7 days of oil aging increased by 15.03% compared to the unaged case. The compression set rate of NBR increased significantly with the increase in aging time and temperature. The coefficient of friction (COF) between friction pairs increased first and then decreased with the increase in aging time. The maximum contact pressure decreased by 2.43% between the shaft and sealing ring and decreased by 4.01% between the O-ring and groove. The proportion of the effective sealing area decreased by 3.05% between the shaft and sealing ring and decreased by 6.11% between the O-ring and groove. Furthermore, the sealing characteristics between the O-ring and groove were better than those between the shaft and sealing ring.