Effects of Common Heavy Duty Axle Lubricants on Sulfur and Peroxide Cured Nitriles

With the introduction of synthetic based oils for heavy duty axle applications a few years back, there has been a concern to the reported temperature related oil bath seal failures in the field. The failures have been thought to be caused from excessive temperature exposure.

Recently conducted tests have determined that incompatibility of common nitriles with certain lubricants will cause premature seal leakage at a moderate temperature of 82°C (180°F).

The cure system plays an important role in material performance. Presented in this paper will be the test methods, both static and dynamic, the results, and drawn conclusions.