Fiber reinforcement of hydrophilic materials for a low-torque shaft seal in water environment

Abstract

The lips of a shaft seal need to be lubricated to ensure its performance. Such seals are subjected to difficult conditions inside water pumps or underwater mechanical systems. Poor lubrication can cause high friction and wear of seal lips. A new shaft seal was designed to prevent water ingress with low friction and high wear resistance by adopting hydrophilic materials to seal rings. Hydrated composites for seal rings were developed with fibers to avoid excessive deformation. In experiments, cellulose nanofibers were most appropriate for reinforcement of the matrix material and the shaft seal exhibited its sealing performance at the speed of 5000 rpm under pressure of 0.8 MPa. This shaft seal will be useful not only for industrial pumps but also for generation systems driven by water flow, such as ocean current or streamflow.