The number one concern of every manufacturing operation should be safety, taking precedent over all else. If safety isn’t prioritized, any profits gained by skimped costs will be lost and exceeded by worker’s compensation, reduced moral, efficiency, and time. Ensuring that your workers have the proper equipment and know the protocol when working in potentially dangerous situations will save you from potential losses.

Train Your Workers on Safety

It can’t be assumed any new employees, even industry veterans, are going to be aware of your safety protocols innately. Make sure that they go through extensive hands-on training for any potentially dangerous situations that can occur in their time working for the company. As new safety protocols are updated and put into place, make sure that every employee is aware of said changes. Often, it’s not enough to merely tell your workers these kinds of changes, drilling them on the changes through demonstrations and supervision reinforces the necessity for safety.

Sometimes, workers will cut corners when it comes to safety to meet tough deadlines or when they are fatigued. Ensure that your employees are aware that safety is the highest priority.

Personal Protection Equipment

In manufacturing and other industrial work situations, protection is a must. Hardhats for any place that may have falling objects, respirators for dust and other airborne irritants, and proper attire are just a few of these must-have protections. If employees may be coming into contact with toxic chemicals that can be absorbed by skin, have them wear gloves and long-sleeves. Eyewear should be worn at all times in these situations, as well.

Loose clothing, jewelry, and long hair can all become serious injury and death hazards. Implement a dress code preventing such issues from arising. Requiring the right kind of well fitting, durable clothes or even providing them in the form of uniforms can be a boon to the safety of your employees and the company. Give workers a place to put away jewelry and distracting devices such as cellphones when they are working in dangerous areas; small personal lockers can work wonders. Finally, for employees with long hair, require them to wear it in a bun or some other close-fitting style to put the extra hair out of harm’s way.

Follow Guidelines

OSHA and other agencies that create standards and regulations for industries should always be followed. These protocols and requirements should be taken seriously and never treated as a cost, but rather a necessity. This is imperative not only because it keeps your workers safe, which should be a top priority, but it also protects you from being fined or facing a costly lawsuit.

Keeping your Machinery Safe

The workers themselves aren’t the only factors to consider. Machinery should also be properly fitted to provide the safest environments possible. Keep all parts of the machine up to date and in good condition. If any piece is showing signs of wear, replace it. Waiting could spell disaster for both the machine and your workers.

Some parts of the machine will need to be replaced more regularly than others. Seals are an important part of most operations that require somewhat frequent replacement. These seals hold in toxic chemicals and fumes, protecting your workers from the dangerous materials. Even a water leak from a broken seal can become a safety hazard. Slipping and falling can be just as serious as coming into contact with a dangerous fluid.

How Real Seal Can Help

Making sure that all of your sealing products are the highest quality and correctly chosen for your operation can have an astounding affect on the safety in your work environment. Real Seal’s decades of service to the manufacturing industry have made them a leader in their field. Contact Real Seal today to ensure that the safety of your operation is top notch and won’t become a loss-leader!

Nearly all operations require seals, but each application has its own challenges and factors to be considered when choosing the right o-ring. Vacuum and high-temperature environments have unique challenges, where choosing the right design and material are essential to maintaining seal integrity. Here are a few things to consider for each application type:

Vacuum

In order to maintain the pressure required for a vacuum, o-rings are used to close off any air from entering through spaces in joints. While an application being a vacuum is only one factor when deciding which seal is required, it does have its own unique requirements. Usually, the o-ring is coated with a low-vapor pressure grease. This grease coating can improve the sealing effect and flushness of the seal to its sealing surface.

O-rings in vacuum applications must be solid and be able to maintain their structure without cracks, holes, or weakening. As the ring degrades, so does the pressure inside the sealed system, reducing the effectiveness of the vacuum. In these types of operations, it’s also imperative for the o-ring to be able to keep out any possible contaminants that might be sucked in by the vacuum, which can cause a host of issues depending on the specific operation.

The vacuum itself will also increase the damage done to the seal as it is in itself a force acting on the material. So, a seal that can withstand the constant pressure of a vacuum is essential to an efficient operation.

High-Temperature Applications

Temperature is a more common concern for sealing operations. Movement, friction, vibration, and direct heating all contribute to the operating temperature of a given application. So, in order to know how hot an operation will get, it really must be tested within the entire system as the compounded effect can be much larger than expected of a specific part of the system.

There is a wide range of materials that can stand higher temperature ranges, so considering the other factors, as well, are important. When an o-ring is heated, it may change the properties of the seal, making it more susceptible to deformation. Having a seal that can withstand all these factors acting upon it is imperative.

Silicone rubber is a material with an extremely high heat tolerance of up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. If the needs of your operation aren’t so extreme, something like nitrile (250 degrees Fahrenheit) or polyurethane rubber (300 degrees Fahrenheit) may also serve the needs.

Typical

While there isn’t really a “typical” sealing operation as all factors need to be considered, the challenges are reduced when vacuum sealing or high-temperature operations aren’t an issue. Some other things to consider when choosing what kind of seal will work best include: chemical composition of the product, amount of action and force acting on the seal, friction, environment, and water. Whether an application is static or dynamic (moving) is also a huge influence on what kind of seal is necessary. All of these factors can weaken the wrong type of seal, so knowing the full range is imperative. No variable should go unchecked against the properties of a seal and what it is weak to.

Finding the Right Seal

Finding the right seal for your application can be hard. This process is even more difficult when high-temperature and vacuum-sealed operations are involved. When choosing a seal, it’s best that you consult an expert. Real Seal have the expertise to guide you to the right seal or even design a new seal to fit your needs.

They have worked with a variety of industries and companies over the decades, making them unparalleled veterans in the sealing industry. Contact Real Seal today to ensure your seals don’t fail!

Figuring out the physical dimensions and design of a seal is a challenging process, but the material is just as important. Selecting the wrong sealing material can lead to leakage or even more catastrophic failure. Some materials are impermeable to certain liquids and vapors, while others will let them slip through microscopic pores.

If you’re looking for a seal, make sure to select the right material based upon its properties and the forces acting upon it. Here are some things to remember when trying to figure out which seal material is right for your application.

Temperature Tolerance

One of the most common issues that applications must deal with includes high heat applications. Friction, direct heating, vibration, and other forces contribute to the heating of a seal. It’s often not enough to just know the standard operating range of one part of a process, as an entire range of other factors can come into play once the whole operation is connected and putting strain on a seal.

Some materials to consider when deciding on a seal in a high heat application include:

• Fluorocarbon, which has a range of up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, is a common choice for such operations.
• Silicone, which has a range of 500 degrees Fahrenheit; however, it has a lower physical strength than some other materials.

Low temperature applications have their own risks, as well. Melting isn’t the only temperature-related problem that seals not designed for a particular environment can be affected by. When seals that aren’t designed for cold temperatures are put in these conditions, they can become brittle and freeze, eventually breaking, cracking, or fracturing.

Silicone is a good choice for extremely cold temperatures, as it is able to handle extreme cold reaching as low as -175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remember that when choosing a material based on its ability to withstand temperature, it should be able to handle the highest ranges an operation can reach. If the industrial application is cyclical, then it should be fine with every range of factors, not just the most constant environmental conditions.

Chemical Compatibility

Most seals are used to keep in, or out, certain products. Whether it’s liquid, vapor, or a kind of slurry, the chemical composition of the material the seal is made of and how it handles these products needs to be taken into account. Some chemicals will be abrasive to the seal, wearing it down physically. Other products will react chemically with certain industrial sealing materials, causing the seal to weaken and eventually break. If the wrong seal is chosen it may also allow the product or its byproducts to escape, causing loss of efficiency and money.

Not only is it important to take into account the products and byproducts a seal is keeping in, the surrounding environment can be equally problematic. If the operation is outside, underwater, or in an area where the seal may come into contact with other products, then these factors should be taken just as seriously as those directly in the application. A seal that can’t handle water won’t be any help to a system outside in a rainy area.

Silicone, for example, is resistant to high-aniline point oils and is excellent for these applications, but on the other hand it is weak to steam.

Physical Properties

In dynamic applications where a seal is against a moving part or may be moved itself, the physical properties of a material become vital. If a seal is too rigid or hard in an application with a lot of movement, then it may break or even damage the machinery itself. On the other hand, in static applications a flexible is probably unnecessary, allowing for a harder material seal to be used if it is better for the application or more economical.

Making the Right Industrial Seal Material Choice

When it comes to the final decision of what material your seal will be, it’s important to consult an expert to prevent seal failure, which can be expensive and time-consuming to fix. Testing the seal or having a provider that has dealt with similar applications before and can recommend the right material is key. Real Seal is a leader in the sealing industry, with over 30 years of experience. Contact Real Seal today to find the right industrial seal material for your operation.

Knowing whether or not to seal your application is relatively simple. Knowing how to seal can be a challenge in certain operations depending on the environment and product being sealed. Here are a list of reasons of why an operation needs to be sealed and its benefits:

Does Your Operation Leak?

The simplest way to tell if you should seal your machines and operations is to check if there is any kind of fluid leakage, even if the only leakage is sanitary room temperature water that can cost money over time. Sealing any kind of benign leak is a matter of cost-benefit analysis. If the cost of a seal and replacing it as it wears down is higher than the money saved when the leak is nontoxic and not a slipping hazard, then don’t seal it. Realistically, those situations are extremely few and far between.

Most leaks will cost money over the long and even short term. Loss of product is often an easy way to ruin profitability. While your product may be benign, it can still become a health hazard if ingested through particulates in the air. The possibility of a slipping fall is also very real and can cause a worker’s compensation situation.

The leakage may also wear down the machines by causing rust, erosion, or additional friction in any moving parts.

Are Fumes a Problem?

Fluid isn’t the only thing that escapes through gaps in machinery. Fumes can be even deadlier, being invisible or slow-acting in their toxicity. Many products now require zero-emissions due to environmental regulations. Short term savings are not worth pursuing over potential fines or worker health issues. The toxicity of the emitted vapors is not the only factor to consider. Temperature can be an issue, as well. Extremely hot or cold air escaping machines can be dangerous to workers and the machines themselves.

Do Pressure and Heat Need to be Maintained?

Some operations require that their product be kept under certain pressure conditions. If a machine isn’t sealed properly, the pressure level will drop and may even cause a rupture if fluid or air escapes too quickly. If an application requires the escape of pressure, seals can be made to compensate for this need.

The same can be said for temperature. A seal can ensure that heat doesn’t escape or enter through a space in the machine, helping to regulate temperature.

Is There Friction?

When metal rubs against metal it wears down, vibrates, and damages machinery. So, even if there isn’t product loss or the escape of dangerous material, it may be necessary to seal joints. Dislocation and misalignment of machines can cause catastrophic damage and failure. Even just vibrations can cause these same issues over time. Seals can act as a buffer and dampener for these forces, saving the machinery from damage.

Is Contamination a Concern?

Fluids, solids, and vapors escaping aren’t the only concern. The inverse can also be just as big of a problem; invasive particles or liquids can wreak havoc on an operation. Contamination can cause massive loss of product, making the entire operation shut down so it can be cleansed from the systems. These contaminants can also damage the machines themselves. Keeping out material is often just as important as keeping it in.

Still Unsure?

Are you still unsure whether your application requires seals? Before moving forward you should be one hundred percent certain if you are going without seals. If you need help deciding how to seal, or whether you need to seal, consulting an expert is the right decision. Contact Real Seal today to discuss all your sealing needs.