Enhancing the Flexural Capabilities of PTFE Seals

A new approach has been developed to enhance polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) seal performance. To accomplish this, a fundamental need to improve the flexural capabilities of the PTFE seal was required. The new approach involves incorporating elastomeric portions to the seal in regions of the sealing lip that previously have been all PTFE. This new concept PTFE seal has demonstrated improved performance to present day bonded and clamped PTFE seal technologies in three specific areas of bench testing: Dynamic Torque reduction of 45% to 60%, Dynamic Durability life improvement of 1000+ hours at 15% higher geometry, and Thermal cycling performance improvement of 5-30%.