Housing design and dimensions
Housing dimensions for static radial sealing
O-rings for static (non-moving) sealing can be used in a wide variety of applications and arrangements. The most common arrangement in hydraulic cylinder applications is static radial sealing between coaxial cylindrical parts. The O-ring is installed in a housing that is machined either as an outside groove (fig. 1) or an inside groove (fig. 2) in one of the two cylindrical parts.
The housing dimensions for static radial sealing O-rings are listed in the size lists.
Housing groove edges
Lead-in chamfers
Extrusion gaps and back-up rings
The size of the permissible extrusion gap (→ Gap extrusion) depends mainly on the seal material, temperature and operating pressure. Harder materials (→ Materials) provide a certain resistance to gap extrusion. When the permissible extrusion gap for the pressure and temperature in application is exceeded, back-up rings may be used to prevent the seal pressing into the gap and causing extrusion damage and possibly even premature failure. Figure 3 shows the O-ring behaviour at different operating pressures and conditions. In applications where the O-ring is exposed to pressure from one side only, the back-up ring is installed at the zero pressure side. For an O-ring exposed to pressure from both sides, a back-up ring is installed on both sides.
-
f8
and H9
for diameters up to 120 mm
-
f7
and H8
for diameters larger than 120 mm
Diagrams 1 to 3 provide guideline values for the maximum extrusion gap in relation to the operating pressure for standard O-rings without back-up ring (diagram 1) and different back-up ring materials and sizes (diagram 2 and diagram 3). These guideline values are based on extensive tests conducted in SKF laboratories at 90 °C (195 °F) and 100 000 pressure pulses. However, other factors such as temperature and fluid can influence these guideline values and should be considered.
For additional information about O-ring and back-up ring materials, refer to Materials and about extrusion, refer to Gap extrusion.