Cool under pressure
An innovative new seal design from a completely new material provides a solution for hydraulic sealing applications that are subject to increasingly higher pressures.
Machines, equipment and motors fitted with hydraulic cylinders are becoming more powerful, and that means the hydraulics are subject to higher pressures and temperatures. As a leading supplier of sealing solutions for fluid power applications, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has responded by creating a unique seal in a material specially engineered for it: the Zurcon®Z13 Glyd Ring®D.
“In the latest more powerful hydraulic applications, high pressure is combined with elevated temperatures,” says Jürgen Bauer, who works in product development at the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. “Our new Zurcon®polyurethane material is specially developed to cope with this combination, withstanding pressures up to 500 bar/ 7,250 psi at both sides and at temperatures up to +120 °C/ +248 °F.”
“We’ve developed a seal that has a long life, even under unforgiving conditions,” says Alberto Livi, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions product manager for Livorno, Italy, where the seal is manufactured. “Zurcon®Z13 polyurethane material was developed specifically for the new Glyd Ring®D seal. It offers superb mechanical and elastic properties. Not only does that make it ideal for working at extreme pressures in high temperatures but also means it loses none of its resilience. In fact, this material is so resilient it can also be used in cylinders with lower quality inner walls.”
Core industrial applications for Zurcon® Z13 Glyd Ring® D include construction machinery, earthmoving equipment, mobile cranes, forklift trucks and any other solutions involving mobile hydraulics. Cranes are becoming increasingly powerful and their hydraulic circuits have to work under greater pressure. For applications such as the hydraulic cylinders in the crane, Zurcon® Z13 Glyd Ring® D delivers a superb combination of elasticity and tensile strength, without compromising sliding friction properties.