What Is An O-Ring? A Brief History and Applications of O-Rings

What is an O-Ring?

Rubber O Ring

An O-ring is a donut, or torus-shaped seal typically used to inhibit the passing of air or liquid. In other words, O-rings are utilized to restrain fluid or air Inside or Outside of an enclosed area. For example, Underwater camera used in Ocean filmography 

Ocean Filmography

need to resist water out of electrical or sensitive parts and it has done with O-rings!

Other everyday uses are keeping our LPG cylinder leak-proof, and to make our lives more secure! They are also used as a drive belt, decorative objects on furniture, cups and automotive parts and used as body jewellery like hand bands.

How Does an O-ring Seal Anyway?

Before we go over types of materials, hardness, sizes, and tolerances of O-rings let address the

How O ring Seals

question i.e. how the O-ring really seals. Essentially, an O-ring is managed to obstruct a pathway that liquid or gas may slip through. O-rings are normally set into a groove to retain them in the spot and then compressed among two surfaces. When you squeeze the O-ring among two surfaces you are taking up the clearance and obstructing the passageway that the fluid or air wants to leave through. When an O-ring is squeezed the rubber has a memory. In other terms, it wants to go back to its initial state. This memory is how the O-rings seal under low, to no pressure. When pressure is applied to the system this also helps the O-ring seal by forcing the O-ring facing the groove wall opposite the direction of the pressure and forcing it to expand vertically to the direction it is being squeezed by the pressure. oh! a lot to wrap the mind around. Let's view if we can explain that a little more clearly. Take a water balloon, for all practical purposes water is not compressible. When you squeeze the water balloon among your hands it expands in an opposing way. Go ahead try it. The O-ring behaves in the same way in the groove. Pressure compresses the O-ring against the wall of the groove forcing it to expand in a different way helping the O-ring to seal toward the walls of the groove.

A Brief History of O-ring 

The first patent for the O-ring is recorded on May 12, 1896, as a Swedish patent. J. O. Lundberg, the inventor of the O-ring, got the patent. The US patent for the O-ring was recorded in 1937 by a then 72-year-old Danish-born mechanic, Niels Christensen.

During World War II, the US government confiscated the O-ring patent as a crucial war-related item and gave the license to manufacture to other manufacturers. Christensen received a lump sum payment of US$75,000 for his works. The litigation ended in a $100,000 adjustment to his descendant in 1971, 19 years after his departure.

Types and Materials used

Although O-rings are typically round, various forms are adapted for various purposes including squares, X-shapes and others. O-Rings are manufactured using a variety of production techniques like extrusion, compression moulding, injection moulding, transfer moulding. Depending on the application, they can be made from a plethora of materials: nitrile rubber, silicone, polyurethane, neoprene, fluorocarbon as well as other elastomers. O-Ring design considers quality, volume, expense, application heat, sealing pressure, chemical congeniality, movement, lubrication, and other conditions.

Common O-Ring Applications

Transport

In industries like passenger automotive, heavy-duty trucking, and aerospace, harsh conditions call for superior products. Chemical exposure, extreme heat, and vibration are all determinants that affect elastomer selection for O-Rings. Custom compounds have been designed to satisfy strict OEM stipulations and are continuously refined to adhere to biofuel and emissions provisions.

Medical

In the medical profession syringe, pump, filtration, and connectors need specialty CDSCO standard O-Rings.

Oil, Gas & Industrial

Valves, gas pumps, fittings, dispensers, and storage vessels need sealing solutions that can endure extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals, and high compression. Specialty compounds like peroxide and triazine-cured perfluoroelastomers ensure heat and chemical resistance.

Electronics

Semiconductor processing and dust protection in consumer electronics designate for O-Rings to be manufactured in clean settings. Particulate and contaminant-free O-Rings are accessible in a wide range of compounds.

Food & Beverage

Specialty 3A sanitary, NSF-61 and water service O-Rings and seals are perfect for food processing, beverage dispensing and water filtration markets.