MATERIAL AND RESEARCH TREND OF O-RING

In this article, O-ring used basically among seals has been described, and materials for the O-rings in an automobile are employed in diversified forms with the uses in an automobile being shown in TABLE 1 according to their advantages by identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the material. Through the results of the research article, aging rates of the material have been confirmed to be proportional to temperature irrespective of the material type. In addition, the tightness has been found to be maintained for more than 2,000 hours under the temperature condition under 100˚C so that excellence and durability of the existing O-ring could be determined based on the study results. Also, as the study results on the form of Orings were considered, V-groove O-ring and Peanut O-ring could be confirmed to have a higher maximum compressive stress and maximum contact normal stress compared with the existing O-ring. It has also been proved through the study results that higher contact face pressure and vertical stress occurred as compared with the existing O-rings. Based on such results, V-groove O-ring, with a groove placed, and Peanut O-ring, with the contact face being raised, have been designed to be the shape required for the automotive O-ring, presenting an opportunity to consider the shapes of an automotive O-ring in the future. Therefore, the information on materials for O-ring and on the study status thus far will be shared in this article.