Oil seals are one of the most outstanding component parts of sealing devices in terms of costs, quality, and performance. Oil seals play an important role in the running of various machines in a stable state over a long period of time. With automobiles becoming more and more high performance, the technical demands on seals are also diversifying. In particular, demands are changing from “high performance” such as high output, long life, reduced exhaust, low fuel consumption to “eco-friendliness” by the effective use of resources and “driving safety and comfort”. This report describes representative rubber materials NBR, HNBR, ACM, VMQ, and FKM important as components of seal products, discusses methods of enhancing performance in terms of heat resistance, cold resistance, friction and wear, and fuel resistance, as well as development trends of rubber materials against the technical trends of automobiles.
