Hydraulic Piston Seals for Cylinders: A Comprehensive Buyer Guide

In life, it’s the small things that matter. And in any business, the small, and sometimes unnoticeable stuff can make or break the entity. It is why you ought to know the truth about seals before contacting seals suppliers for purchases. The success of your fluid systems banks on this mini component. So, why are hydraulic piston seals so vital?

Hydraulic piston seals are the relatively soft, non-metallic rings used to separate or block fluid in reciprocating motion applications. Most types of machinery use reciprocating motions (hydraulic cylinder systems) to control movement or apply forces when performing intended actions. In other words, every time your business’s mechanical structures are up and running, hydraulic seals are too.

All hydraulic piston seals fall into one of two categories: single acting piston seals and double acting piston seals. Single acting seals contain pressure on only a single piston side, while double acting seals keep a lid on the force from both piston sides. Both kinds of seals must ensure there is no fluid leakage.

Hydraulic Piston Seals that Attract Business Losses

When piston contains pressure on one or both piston sides, while preventing leakage, maximum mechanical effort gets applied. Consequently, the piston moves along a bore, retracting or extending the cylinder in the process. If the pistons seals are failing, the amount of mechanical effort applied on a piston gets reduced, making the entire system inefficient. Now, any intelligent business person knows that machinery inefficiency ultimately results in losses and wasted opportunities. Additionally, your entity might suffer lengthy downtime plus costly repairs, all because of failing piston seals. Here are common reasons why hydraulic piston seals tend to fail:

1. Improper Installation

Many hydraulic seal defects crop up at the installation stage. Your hydraulic piston seals suppliers ought to properly lubricate, clean, and protect your seals against cuts and nicks. Other issues that can affect piston seals during assembly include improper positioning and over-tightening the seal gland.

2. System Contamination

Hydraulic piston seal contamination emanates from either internal or external elements. Internal causes include broken down degradable system components like hoses and oil. Some examples of external factors are dust, ice, mud, grit, and dirt.

3. Chemical Breakdown

A chemical breakdown occurs when there’s a disparity between the cylinder’s fluid and the piston seal. This misapplication leads to chemical attacks due to oil additives, oxidation, or hydrolysis. Once a breakdown ensues, the seal lip interface loosens while the seal durometer softens. Also, the piston seal may shrink or swell excessively.

4. Heat Degradation

A piston seal degradation is due to excessive lip loading, high dynamic friction, using incorrect seal material, lack of heel clearance, and proximity to an external heat source. Generally, degradation causes the seal to lose its effectiveness. If you look at the causes of seal failure listed above, it’s clear that you’ve got to have your piston seal facts right. Hydraulic piston seals suppliers have many products, each designed differently for various uses in machines. Some examples include:

·The GFS- P01 Piston Seal

It is a general purpose seal designed for high performance in a rod or piston. The GFS-PO1 is excellent for light-duty cylinder (industrial) applications. Thanks to an accurate machine trim on the sealing lips, this seal can contain low pressure ideally. In high pressure, the material of the seal resists extrusion.

·The GFS-PO2 Piston Seal

To make this double-acting seal, manufacturers combine an energizing O-Ring and a PTFE slipper seal. The product comes with an interference fit that works well with the O-Ring to seal fluid systems wonderfully. In high-pressure systems, the fluid energizes the O-Ring, creating a push against the PTFE seal that increases its overall force on the sealing face.

· The GFS-PO3 Piston Seal

It is also double-acting and has an elastomer O-ring acting as an energizer. This seal can fit existing O-Ring grooves like the MIL-P-5514 and the US standard AS 568 A. On top of that, the GFS-PO3 Piston Seal has excellent dry running, stick-slip-free starting, and good friction properties. You are likely to find hydraulic piston seals suppliers selling more differently designed seals. For your business machines to function optimally, go for the most appropriate hydraulic piston seals. And there is a formula you can use to find the right piston seals.

Piston Seal Selection Criteria

Generally, let application parameters govern your search for proper piston seals. The profile and material you pick should match the entire fluid system of your machines. Some metrics to consider are:

Fluid pressure range- Should include the pressure peak severity and frequency.

Temperature range of cylinder assembly and fluid when your machine is operating and at rest.

The reciprocating piston rod- What’s its stroking speed?

Fluid media- type and viscosity

Hardware dimensions like bore and rod diameters, seal groove gaps and sizes, surface finish specification, overall cylinder length, and stroke length.

What You Need to Know About the Materials that Make Piston Seals

The materials of piston seals are critical when it comes to enabling service life and optimized performance. As you shop from hydraulic piston seals suppliers, don’t forget to evaluate the properties of different materials. Ensure your piston seal materials have the following:

Good elasticity- The seal should stretch well in various temperatures, including low temperatures.

Excellent compression stress and set behaviour, so that the seal maintains the sealing force.

The material should be adequately flexible and hard for easy installation plus proper leakage protection.

Proper gap extrusion resistance just in case the system faces increased pressures.

Adequate working temperature range.

Favourable chemical compatibility, to protect the hydraulic piston seal from chemical degradation.

Desirable tribological properties such as high wear resistance and low friction values). It protects the seal against early failure caused by rough counter surfaces.

All in All

Maintaining a fluid system at high efficiency requires the use of the best possible hydraulic piston seals. Therefore, choose experienced hydraulic piston seals suppliers who can educate you on what your machine needs. Additionally, don’t go for cheap products as they aren’t always the best.