Fluoroelastomer Specialists
Sealing is a very complex science by itself as it involves many physical aspects, including mechanical design, materials science, surface science and fluid behaviour. Armin Reicharz reports.
For applications requiring hermetically sealed connectors – like vacuum processing equipment, pressure vessels or continually immersed devices – some parameters need to be carefully taken into account to achieve hermeticity.
Different levels of sealing exist. They should be adapted to the operating conditions, in which the equipment will be used. Installations having to withstand dust or water ingresses usually need to be environmentally sealed. Applications requiring gas tightness need a higher degree of protection; they are generally hermetically sealed.
To be referred to as hermetic, a system has to be designed to avoid its content leaking out or gas leaking in over an extended period of time. The effectiveness of a hermetic barrier is calculated in leakage rate values. Leak rates quantify the amount of gas flowing through the barrier every second and are expressed in mbar.l/s or atm.cm3/s. Hermeticity typically concerns leakage rates below 10-6mbar.l/s.
Read more: Parameters for hermetically sealed connectors
