Overcoming Gland Limitations

Standard O-rings function extremely well, however they do have hardware restrictions which, if not followed, can limit their life or functionality. For example, if an O-ring groove is not wide enough to allow for void space around the compressed O-ring, the seal will be overfilled in the gland and prematurely fail. If the tolerances on the hardware are too wide, the O-ring could have inadequate compression in some assemblies and an overfill condition in others.

A variety of seal options are designed to offset some of the limitations which exist for hardware substrates. A few hardware limitations may include the need for sealing with:

• Limited groove width

• Large compression variation