If you deal with rotatory shaft equipment, you would probably be having rubber seals in your mechanical assembly. For any manufacturing company, optimal functionality, efficiency, and long service life are essential to your success in the market. A component that is majorly underappreciated within a machine assembly, would be oil seal. 

Shaft seals are used to prevent lubricant leaks like oil or grease and protect machinery from dirt, dust, and water—which makes them invaluable to industrial operations. In this post, we will dive deeper into oil seals and discuss everything that one must know, such as what it is, how it works, types, applications, and what to keep in mind when buying oil seals. 

What are rubber oil seals? 

Rubber oil seals are placed between moving and static parts of mechanical equipment to prevent damage caused by moisture, contaminants, etc. Also known as rotatory shaft seals, grease seals, fluid seals, lip seals, and dirt seals; oil seals play an important role in closing the gaps between moving and stationary parts of machines. 

Their main purpose is to retain or separate fluids from mixing and escaping the gauge, as well as stop moisture, abrasives, corrosive materials, and foreign contaminants from entering the parts, thereby ensuring maximum machine efficiency. Moreover, shaft rubber seals help prevent lubricant leakage at high pressure, for instance, when the machine is working at an extremely high pace. 

How does rubber oil seal work? 

Oil seals work by retaining lubricant in a thin layer between the lip and the shaft. These seals are attached to the bearing, with their lip pressing against the rotating shaft and the casing resting against the housing to hold the seal in place. 

Oil seals perform some functions that ensure functionality at all costs and they do this by retaining lubricants at all costs and not making them escape no matter how high the pressure is.  Whenever an oil seal fails, it creates seal leakage allowing abrasives, corrosive moistures and sediments to enter machines. Oil seals are especially used in equipment that has rotating, oscillating, and reciprocating shafts – pumps, pistons, etc. 

Different types of seals offered by rubber products manufacturers in India include – Single and double lip oil seals, metal cased, external and internal oriented oil seals, and spring-energized oil seals and you can pick the one that best suits your industry requirements. 

Applications of Oil Seals 

Practically, all machine equipment including assembled machines, car engines, and PTFE machined parts use these oil seals to prevent harmful interactions that could possibly result in damaged parts. They are used in the assembly of Elevators, conveyor belts, engines, grinding mills, pipelines, wind turbines, and more. 

When equipment is under high pressure, lubricants tend to escape, and dry parts clash. Oil seals help prevent this by sealing holes where lubricants can leak out. rubber seals are designed to offer optimum sealing performance and extreme durability even under high-peripheral speed. They are lightweight, compact, and exhibit high self-lubricating properties. Oil seals are manufactured with high-grade materials and last long without showing any signs of hardening, softening, or aging. 

Moreover, oil seals are widely used throughout the aerospace industry in both space exploration and aviation applications. Sujan Industries manufactures all aircraft rubber items including O-rings, Gaskets, Seals, Pistons, Grommets, Washers, and Protective Boots & Bellows. In the aviation sector, pneumatics and hydraulics are used to operate components like landing gear and wing flaps. Rubber gaskets are needed in these systems to keep dust and air out while ensuring aircraft components run effectively.

How to Choose the Right Oil Seal 

Picking the right type of oil seals is crucial for the proper functioning of machines because in some situations not all types can fit to work on certain machines. 

There are quite a few factors to put into consideration when you’re choosing the right oil seal for your machine. Some of these factors include – dimensions, pressure, temperature, type of fluid, lubricant, shaft speed, shaft and bore tolerance, and more.

The capacity of oil seals to handle different intensities of pressure varies with their composition and application, so it is important to understand the compression set of your equipment. Just like the pressure, the temperature that your oil seal will be operating in must be known to be able to choose one that can withstand the working temperature. 

Likewise, different types of fluids like grease, water, oil, fuels, etc. will come into contact with oil seals. So, knowing what type of fluids will be in constant contact with oil seals will help you choose the one capable of withstanding the surrounding conditions. When we talk about lubricants, seals always perform well when lubricated, however, in some machines there are dry spells.  If you are a supplier of aftermarket parts in India or a user looking for oil seals in the aerospace industry, your search might end with Sujan Industries. 

Wrapping Up

Oil seals are critical to a machine’s functionality. A machine’s oil seals are critical to its functionality. Picking the right seal for your machine is vital as it not only guarantees the optimum performance of applications but also ensures a safe working environment for years to come. With so many rotary shaft seal options available, it can be hard to know which one to choose for your machine! Contact us today to speak to one of our experts and pick the best one for you.