Depending on the application, an O-ring must be resistant to ozone, high and/or low temperatures, corrosive chemicals, oil, fat and cleaning products.

In the food industry, it needs to be compliant with Australia’s Food Safety Standards. For use in pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, it must comply with the TGA.

Here’s a brief look at choosing O-rings for three industries based on the applications for which they are intended.

The chemical industry

Aggressive, sometimes toxic materials, high pressure machines, extreme temperatures and temperature fluctuations – seals face special challenges in the processing of petroleum molecules into chemical products.

Just one of the many types of chemical manufacturing processes, steam cracking of petroleum needs temperatures up to 850+ degrees Celsius, producing molecules including ethene, propene, buta-1,3-diene and C4 alkenes.

Freudenberg offers highly-resistant sealing solutions made from synthetic materials such as PTFE, as well as a wide range of high-quality elastomeric materials such as perfluoroelastomers like Simriz, EPDM or FKM when elastomeric flexibility is required in less aggressive production environments.

The food industry

Depending on the sub-sector, seals in food manufacturing equipment must withstand high salt content, CO2 exposure, fats, acids and sugars.

In the dairy industry, the high fat content of the product requires fat-resistant O-rings. But an EPDM material with very good resistance to CIP/SIP (Clean-In-Place and Sterilisation-In-Place systems) cannot handles excess fat.

The ideal material must be able to handle fat as well as withstand alkaline cleaning solutions used to eliminate milk fat and protein from the lines.
 

The pharmaceuticals industry

Seals play a big role in preventing contamination of basic materials used in drug manufacture where an aseptic equipment environment is essential.

Freudenberg has developed special materials and seals, such as white EPDM, Fluoroprene XP and Simriz, that satisfy the demanding operating conditions and hygiene requirements of processing industries like pharmaceutical manufacturing. 

Using the interactive O-ring guide

The Freudenberg O-Ring Configurator helps you find O-rings for a system based on parameters you give, such as whether the system is hydraulic/pneumatic, bore and shaft diameters, as well as the O-ring material needed for that system.