TY - CONF A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Weber, Mike A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Numerical Modelling of Compression Stress Relaxation and Compression Set of Elastomer O-Ring During Aging N2 - Elastomer seals are used in many industrial applications due to their excellent mechanical properties at a wide range of temperatures. Their high versatility and recovery potential under several load conditions make them well suitable for the application in containers designed for transport, storage and/or disposal of radioactive materials. In containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste, elastomer seals are used as barrier seals, and as auxiliary seals in storage and transportation casks (dual purpose casks) for heat generating radioactive waste, such as spent fuel and high-level waste. While a seal exchange at defined intervals is typical in many conventional applications, it is impossible or at least hard to perform when principles of minimization of radiation exposure have to be considered and prohibit an unnecessary cask handling. An extensive knowledge of the change of the elastomer’s properties during aging and the availability of reliable end-of-lifetime criteria to guarantee the permanent safe enclosure of the radioactive material is mandatory. As BAM is involved in most of the national cask licensing procedures and in the evaluation of cask-related long-term safety issues, great efforts have been already made and are still planned to scientifically support this task. Compression stress relaxation and compression set were identified as key indicators of elastomer long-term performance and quantitatively investigated in comprehensive test programs. Among other representative types of elastomers, specimens made from ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) were tested before, during and after aging to capture the most important of their complex mechanical properties. In the presented study, exemplary results were used to simulate the compression stress relaxation and the compression set of elastomer O-rings during aging. Regarding the influence of temperature, the time-temperature superposition principle is applied in the relaxation analysis of elastomer O-rings. The proposed model is implemented in the commercial finite element software ABAQUS/Standard® [1] with a sequential temperature displacement coupling. Numerical results match the experimental compression stress relaxation measurements well. The prediction of compression set values after long-term aging shows a relatively good agreement with the experimental results. Nevertheless, all input parameters derived from the specimen tests, additional assumptions concerning boundary conditions and modeling strategy are discussed with regard to the identified slight discrepancies. The possibility to extend the finite element model to represent the O-ring seal’s ability to recover after a (fast) partial release is taken into account. T2 - ASME 2020 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2020) CY - Online meeting DA - 03.08.2020 KW - Compression Set KW - O-ring KW - Simulation KW - Sequential analysis KW - Ageing KW - stress relaxation PY - 2020 SN - 978-0-7918-8388-4 DO - https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2020-21270 SP - PVP2020-21270 PB - ASME AN - OPUS4-51490 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Subramani Bhagavatheswaran, E. A1 - Wießner, S. A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Einfluss der Alterung auf dichtungsrelevante Eigenschaften von FKM-, VMQ- und EPDM-Elastomeren N2 - Da Elastomere in vielfältigen Dichtungsanwendungen eingesetzt werden und dabei teilweise großen Einfluss auf die Funktionsfähigkeit und Sicherheit haben, ist der Einfluss der Alterung auf dichtungsrelevante Eigenschaften relevant. Eine strukturierte Untersuchung des Einflusses von verschiedenen Mischungsrezepturen auf die Bauteileigenschaften, das Alterungsverhalten und die Funktion wird vorgestellt. T2 - Technomer 2017 CY - Chemnitz, Germany DA - 09.11.2017 KW - Dichtung KW - Alterung KW - Struktur-Eigenschaftsbeziehung KW - Elastomer PY - 2017 SN - 978-3-939382-13-3 VL - 2017 SP - 41 EP - 41 AN - OPUS4-42844 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zaghdoudi, M. A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar ED - Altenbach, H. ED - Hitzler, L. ED - Johlitz, M. ED - Merkel, M. ED - Öchsner, A. T1 - Analysis of Heterogeneous Ageing of HNBR O-Rings N2 - Abstract Hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) elastomer was thermo-oxidatively aged at different temperatures up to 150 °C. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), compression stress relaxation (CSR) and international rubber hardness degree (IRHD) microhardness were used to characterise the chemo-mechanical changes of HNBR O-rings during thermo-oxidative ageing. FTIR shows the development of carbonyl, methyl and ester groups but the nitrile content was not affected by ageing. The effect of sample geometry during CSR was investigated. CSR data were converted through integrated kinetic laws. The conversion has proven its sensibility to detect heterogeneous ageing. This was confirmed by the IRHD measure-ments across the section of O-rings. The influence of compression during ageing was assessed through IRHD measurements across the section of compressed and uncom-pressed aged O-rings. The DLO effect was more pronounced in compressed O-rings. By applying the model of Wise et al., theoretical IRHD and oxidation profiles were determined on the basis of IRHD experimental data of compressed O-rings. Good agreements between the experimental and the theoretical IRHD profiles in the core region were obtained. However, near the edge, the theoretical IRHD values were overestimated. KW - Ageing KW - Rubber seals KW - Stress relaxation KW - Modelling PY - 2024 SN - 978-3-031-49042-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49043-9 SN - 1869-8433 SP - 331 EP - 348 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham, Switzerland AN - OPUS4-59769 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Ageing and lifetime prediction of O-ring seals made of HNBR, EPDM and FKM N2 - BAM is the federal institute for materials research and testing in Germany. One of our tasks is to evaluate the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive waste. As elastomeric seals are used in the containers as safety-relevant parts, it is our goal to be able to evaluate the service lifetime of the seals with regard to the requirements for long-term safety (40 years and more) of the containers. For this reason, an accelerated ageing programme with selected rubbers often used for seals (HNBR, EPDM and FKM) was started. Ageing was performed at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) for up to 2 years. For assessing properties related to the sealability, O-rings were aged in compression by 25 % (corresponding to the compression during service) between plates. For comparison, uncompressed O-rings were aged as well. The aged materials were characterized with conventional polymer analysis methods such as hardness and tensile tests, but also with more seal-specific methods such as compression stress relaxation (CSR, reflecting the loss of sealing force of a compressed seal over time), and compression set (CS, representing the recovery behaviour of a seal after release from compression). CS is chosen as the property for lifetime prediction as it is both sensitive to degradation and related to the seal performance. CS data is extrapolated to 60 °C, which yields lifetimes of approximately 5 years for HNBR and 64 years for EPDM for a criterion of 85 % CS respectively, and approx. 40 years for FKM for a criterion of 65 % CS (the highest value measured so far). T2 - 12. Kautschuk Herbst Kolloquium CY - Hanover, Germany DA - 22.11.2016 KW - Rubber KW - Compression set KW - Extrapolation KW - Degradation PY - 2016 SN - 9783981407648 VL - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38483 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Skrotzki, Birgit A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Creep investigations on aluminum seals for application in radioactive waste containers N2 - In Germany spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste is stored in interim storage containers with double lid systems. Those lids are equipped with metal seals (e.g. Helicoflex®) that ensure the safe enclosure of the inventory. The used metal seals consist of three components as can be seen in the cross-sectional view in Figure 1. The innermost part is a helical spring that is surrounded by an inner jacket made of stainless steel. The outer jacket that is made of a softer material which in case of assembly in the aforementioned storage containers is silver or aluminum (i.e. Al 99.5). During application the seal is compressed and due to the restoring force of the helical spring, the outer jacket is plastically deformed and adapts to the sealing surface. Hence, leakage paths are closed and the sealing function is generated. In Germany the above-mentioned containers are licensed for up to 40 years of interim storage, which in case extended storage becomes necessary before a final repository is available will have to be extended to even longer periods. Therefore, the evaluation of the long-term behavior of the seals is necessary, taking into account storage conditions, decay heat and possible mechanical loads as well. At Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM) long-term investigations are being conducted in which seals are assembled in test flanges and aged at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 150°C for accelerated aging. The aged seals are tested semi-annually (after the first 6 months in which the seals are tested more frequently) regarding the sealing performance, the remaining seal force, and the useable resilience upon decompression. Results of these investigations have been published over the past years (e.g. Grelle, Wolff, Probst, Jaunich, & Völzke, 2017; Völzke, Wolff, Probst, Nagelschmidt, & Schulz, 2014). It was found that the seal force and the useable resilience decrease with time and temperature, which is in agreement with the result of other studies (Sassoulas et al., 2006; Wataru et al., 2016) as well. Geometry change of the outer jacket has been identified as the main reason for this seal behavior. At the prevailing operating temperatures and stresses the aluminum is subjected to creep deformation leading to a thinning of the outer jacket. Since the seal groove depth remains unchanged the helical spring expands, which in turn leads to a decrease of the generated spring and seal force. Although the main reason for the change of seal parameters over time and temperature is known, a detailed characterization of the seal behavior and a reliable prediction of the parameter development for aging times that exceed the experimental time frame have not been possible, yet. For deeper understanding of the aging processes, an Investigation program, which is covered in this contribution, is conducted at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM) that focusses on the behavior of the aluminum jacket and its influence on the long-term sealing performance. The program investigates properties of material samples as well as the behavior of the seal as a component. Original sheet material of the same aluminum that is used for manufacturing of the seals is investigated in compression creep tests. For this, a DMA (dynamic mechanical analysis) machine is employed (here used for static tests) that allows for a measurement of the specimens deformation under forces of up to 500 N. The advantage of this method is that the original material can be tested in the same shape as used for the seals which is 0.5 mm thick sheet material. For investigation of tensile creep standard specimens are used, that were machined from surrogate material of the same composition and annealing condition. Furthermore, aluminum seals that are cut into smaller segments are assembled in flanges and placed in heating chambers at temperatures ranging from 23°C to 150°C. After different periods of time from 3 days to 300 days the segments are taken out of the flanges and are investigated, thus giving information on different states of aging. Measurements of the development of the seal contact width and the aluminum jacket thickness are done with an optical microscope. Further investigations on the segments will include metallography and hardness measurements. From the detailed material and component behavior including the results of the long-term seal force and useable resilience investigations a better understanding of the overall seal behavior can be gained. The aim is to contribute to the development of material models and analytical approaches for the prediction of the sealing behavior in dependence of time and temperature. T2 - International Conference on Aluminum Alloys CY - Montreal, Canada DA - 17.06.2018 KW - Metal seal KW - Creep KW - Long-term behavior PY - 2018 SN - 978-1-926872-41-4 SP - 1 EP - 2 AN - OPUS4-45844 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Understanding the recovery behaviour and the degradative processes of EPDM during ageing N2 - Recovery is an important measure for seal applications representing to which extent the elastomer regains its initial shape after deformation and release of an applied force. Compression set (CS) indicates the degree of recovery. Ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) was aged at 75 ◦C, 100 ◦C, 125 ◦C and 150 ◦C for different ageing times up to five years and compression set measurements were performed at different times after disassembly and after additional tempering. Short- and long-term recovery up to one year after release for samples aged at 125 ◦C and 150 ◦C was also studied. To assess the curvature in the Arrhenius diagram that may occur due to non-sufficiently aged specimens, a degradation-rate based model was fitted to the CS data after tempering. For each ageing temperature, two decay fit functions were proposed, each with an activation energy and a corresponding degradative process. The influence of ageing on the leak-tightness after fast small partial release is investigated and estimated through the analysis of the shift factors from time temperature superposition (TTS) of CS measurements at different times after disassembly. Shift factors of CS measurement after 1 s and after additional tempering are in good agreement. KW - Compression set KW - Ageing KW - Recovery KW - Degradative processes KW - Leakage rate PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-573699 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2023.107987 SN - 0142-9418 VL - 121 SP - 107987 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-57369 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Oxidative ageing of elastomers: Experiment and modelling N2 - During an extensive test programme at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und prüfung, material property changes of EPDM O-rings were investigated at different ageing times and two ageing temperatures of 125∘C and 150∘C. To exclude possible diffusion-limited oxidation (DLO) effects that can distort the data, IRHD microhardness measurements were taken over the cross section of compressed O-rings. Continuous stress relaxation measurements were taken on samples free of DLO effects. The additional effect of physical processes to irreversible chemical ones during a long-term thermal exposure is quantified by the analysis of compression set measurements under various test conditions. By combining the different experimental methods, characteristic times relative to the degradation processes were determined. On the basis of experimental data, a microphysically motivated model that takes into account reversible and irreversible processes was developed. The parameter identification strategy of the material model is based on our experimental investigations on homogeneously aged elastomer O-rings. The simulated results are in good agreement with the experiments. KW - Compression stress relaxation KW - Compression set KW - IRHD microhardness KW - Modelling PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-545910 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-022-01093-9 SN - 1432-0959 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-54591 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Goral, Milan A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Völzke, Holger ED - Krüssenberg, A. T1 - Overview of metal seal tests performed at BAM and implications for extended interim storage N2 - The investigation of the long-term performance of sealing systems employed in containers of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is one research focus area for division 3.4 \Safety of Storage Containers" at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung. The behaviour of metallic seals, which are employed in interim storage casks for spent nuclear fuel and high active waste, over time is of high importance for ensuring safe enclosure. Therefore, investigations on these systems were started at BAM to get a general understanding of the relevant processes. Our investigations comprise investigations on different parameters which influence the seal Performance and the main part is focussed on the time and temperature dependent behaviour. Our aim is to understand the longterm behaviour of the sealing systems for evaluation of their performance during possible extended interim storage and subsequent transportation. In this contribution an overview of the performed tests and their respective results is given. A focus lies on a comparison between seals with large torus diameter in comparison to small diameters. T2 - Safety of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel SEDS2020: International online-workshop CY - Online meeting DA - 03.06.2020 KW - Metal seal KW - Seal performance KW - Long-term investigation KW - Ageing PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.3139/124.200071 SN - 0932-3902 VL - 85 IS - 6 SP - 440 EP - 443 PB - Carl Hanser Verlag CY - München AN - OPUS4-51833 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Subramani Bhagavatheswaran, E. A1 - Wießner, S. A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Aging study and electrical resistance based stress-monitoring of rubber seals N2 - Elastomer seals are widely used as barrier seals in containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste. In addition, they are also used in waste fuel storage and transportation casks as auxiliary seals. Depending on the area of use, the rubber materials have to demonstrate proper sealing performance with respect to mechanical, thermal and environmental conditions as well as irradiation during the entire operation period. A fundamental understanding of the structure property relationship and their changes during aging can help to evaluate the long-term sealing performance. In the present study, specific materials are investigated to study the structure-property and seal performance-correlation. Fluoro-elastomer (FKM), silicone rubber (VMQ) and ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) were chosen as base rubbers. Comparable mechanical properties for these seals, especially in terms of a comparable compression behavior were achieved by careful control of base rubber formulation, i.e., by opting for the right filler and its concentration, amount of crosslinking chemicals, and with the assistance of process oils. Moreover, with the same rubber, similar mechanical properties were achieved by varying the filler concentration and crosslinking degree, which shall enable to correlate the particular influence on the structure property dependency of the seals in detail. The materials are investigated under pristine and aged conditions to evaluate the influence of aging, e.g. on the stress relaxation or recovery behavior. These values appear to be suitable parameters to judge the expected sealing performance. Due to the electrically conducting nature of some fillers used to reinforce rubbers (such as carbon blacks, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), Graphene, etc.) it is possible to obtain current information about mechanical and visco-elastic properties by monitoring the electrical conductivity or resistivity. A simple relation that relates electrical resistance with mechanical stress was derived and the stress values were theoretically predicted from the electrical resistance values, which showed good correlation with experimental results. T2 - 192nd Technical meeting of the ACS Rubber Division CY - Cleveland, OH, USA DA - 09.10.2017 KW - Seal KW - Rubber KW - Degradation KW - Structure-property relationship KW - Ageing PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 25 AN - OPUS4-42849 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Pourmand, P. A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Hedenqvist, M. T1 - Analysis of O-ring seal failure under static conditions and determination of end-of-lifetime criterion N2 - Determining a suitable and reliable end-of-lifetime criterion for O-ring seals is an important issue for long-term seal applications. Therefore, seal failure of ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) and hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) O-rings aged in the compressed state at 125 °C and at 150 °C for up to 1.5 years was analyzed and investigated under static conditions, using both non-lubricated and lubricated seals. Changes of the material properties were analyzed with dynamic-mechanical analysis and permeability experiments. Indenter modulus measurements were used to investigate DLO effects. It became clear that O-rings can remain leak-tight under static conditions even when material properties have already degraded considerably, especially when adhesion effects are encountered. As a feasible and reliable end-of-lifetime criterion for O-ring seals under static conditions should include a safety margin for slight dimensional changes, a modified leakage test involving a small and rapid partial decompression of the seal was introduced that enabled determining a more realistic but still conservative end-of-lifetime criterion for an EPDM seal. KW - EPDM KW - HNBR KW - Seal failure KW - Leak-tightness KW - DLO KW - Oxygen permability KW - DMA KW - Indenter modulus PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-486125 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11081251 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 11 IS - 8 SP - 1251, 1 EP - 19 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, CH AN - OPUS4-48612 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -