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- Elastomer (19) (entfernen)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
A device has been designed, built and tested that allows the investigation of effects of dynamic loads on the leak tightness of elastomer seals at low temperatures. With the test setup, the compression of the tested seal can be reduced by a defined degree in a time period of less than 1 s. For the evaluation of the leak tightness, leakage rates can be determined.
It was shown that the rapid partial release of an elastomer seal leads to its failure already at the beginning of the rubber–glass transition and, therefore, at significantly higher temperatures than the loss of leak tightness observed under static conditions.
Elastomerdichtungen finden als Bauteil oder Maschinenelement vielseitige Verwendung. Jedoch war trotz ihrer zentralen Bedeutung die untere Temperaturgrenze, bis zu der solche Dichtungen eingesetzt werden können, bisher nicht tiefgehend verstanden. Dieser Umstand erschwert die entsprechende notwendige sicherheitsrelevante Beurteilung. Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit ist deshalb das Ziel verfolgt worden, dass Materialverhalten repräsentativer Elastomerwerkstoffe in Abhängigkeit von der Temperatur zu verstehen und daraus dann abzuleiten, bis zu welcher Temperatur eine daraus hergestellte Dichtung unter Berücksichtigung der jeweiligen Einsatzbedingungen ihre Funktion noch sicher erfüllen kann. Ausgehend von der in der Literatur beschriebenen Aussage, dass eine Dichtung auch unterhalb der „Glasübergangstemperatur“ funktionsfähig ist, wurde der Einfluss des Glas-Gummi-Übergangs auf das Dichtungsversagen untersucht. Zunächst wurden dazu die Glasübergangstemperaturen an einer Vielzahl von Elastomeren mit gebräuchlichen Verfahren bestimmt, um diese mit dem Verhalten der Dichtung vergleichen zu können. Weiterhin wurde im Rahmen der Arbeit eine neue Charakterisierungsmethode des Tieftemperaturverhaltens von Elastomeren entwickelt, die die bisher für Dichtungen eingesetzte Normprüfung des Druckverformungsrests nachstellt. Mit dieser Methode ist im Vergleich zur Normprüfung jedoch eine deutlich schnellere und automatisierbare Untersuchung des Materialverhaltens gegeben. Darüber hinaus ist durch eine modellgestützte Auswertung eine Extrapolation der Messdaten auf zusätzliche Temperaturen möglich, wodurch der experimentelle Aufwand weiter reduziert wird. Zur temperaturabhängigen Charakterisierung des Versagensvorgangs an realen Bauteilen wurde deren Dichtverhalten mittels eines dafür entwickelten Versuchsstandes untersucht. Die festgestellte Abhängigkeit der Versagenstemperatur vom Verpressgrad konnte unter Verwendung der Ergebnisse aller angewandten Charakterisierungsmethoden für die hier untersuchten statisch beanspruchten Dichtungen erklärt werden. Zudem lassen sich aus dem mit Hilfe des Zeit-Temperatur- Superpositionsprinzips gewonnenen Informationen zur Zeitabhängigkeit der Materialeigenschaften auch Aussagen zum Verhalten von dynamisch beanspruchten Dichtungen ableiten. Mit dem Ergebnis der Arbeit zum Verständnis des Verhaltens von Elastomerdichtungen bei tiefen Temperaturen wird die gezielte Beurteilung und Auswahl von sicherheitsrelevanten Dichtsystemen in Zukunft vereinfacht.
Aufgrund ihrer einfachen und zuverlässigen Anwendung werden Elastomere für viele Dichtungsaufgaben eingesetzt. In vielen Anwendungsbereichen, wie z.B. Verkehr, Luftfahrt und Verfahrenstechnik, können während des Einsatzes tiefe Temperaturen auftreten, bei denen die Funktionsfähigkeit der Dichtung erhalten bleiben muss. Daher ist die Untersuchung des Verhaltens von Elastomerdichtungen bei tiefen Temperaturen wichtig, um ihren Temperatureinsatzbereich nach unten abzugrenzen und dadurch einen verlässlichen Betrieb zu sichern. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, den sicheren Einschluss von gefährlichen Gütern unter verschiedenen Umgebungsbedingungen und über lange Zeiten zu ermöglichen bzw. die Materialauswahl entsprechend zu steuern.
In consideration of the influence of the curing reaction on the material properties of elastomers, it is very important to control the vulcanization process properly.
As shown previously [1], the effects of the vulcanization reaction of an elastomer can be monitored by use of ultrasonic sound waves. This technique has to a certain degree a high similarity to the standard curemeter test according to ISO 6502 but can be applied also inside a production tool.
So far, the method was only applied to the vulcanization of one compound at a given temperature and sample thickness. This is now complemented with measurements on another compound system at different temperatures and sample thicknesses.
The expected effects of temperature and thickness on the curing behaviour were found by use of the ultrasound online control.
Monitoring the vulcanization of elastomers: Comparison of curemeter and ultrasonic online control
(2009)
The vulcanization of elastomeric materials has a high impact on the properties of the final product. Therefore, it is important to monitor and control this crosslinking process. A common technique to attain the necessary curing time is the use of a curemeter in accordance with ISO 6502 in order to determine the time for full cure of a sample with a standardized geometry. Based on this result and a lot of practical experience, the required curing time for a given product geometry is estimated. Within the scope of this work, a new analysis technique will be compared with the standard procedure. The ultrasonic online control employs ultrasound waves to measure the changes in material properties caused by vulcanization. For this study, a natural rubber compound with a conventional curing system was investigated by both techniques. It was found that the results of the ultrasonic technique show good agreement with the results of the curemeter.
The method for the determination of compression set values with a Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) setup at low temperatures, which was presented previously, allows a much faster and readily automated procedure than the standardized compression set test according to ISO 815-2. This method is applied to a series of different elastomeric materials that are commonly used for sealing applications. The results of the compression set test are compared with results from thermal analysis to allow an in depth comparison of the material behaviour at low temperatures.
Furthermore, a comparison between two EPDM materials is presented. These materials show very similar properties determined by thermo analytical methods such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) but differ clearly in their compression set behaviour. This comparison shows the importance and value of information of the compression set test in addition to thermal analysis to judge the behaviour of sealing materials and confirms the relevance of the new compression set test method for the investigation of low temperature properties of elastomers.
A new method for the evaluation of the low temperature properties of rubber materials is presented. The method emulates the standardized compression set measurement, which is frequently used for sealing materials, but can be performed within a considerably shorter time. The results are compared with the standard test and found to be qualitatively the same. Slight differences are discussed on the basis of the differences in the measurement procedures. Further data evaluation is done by fitting functions to describe the material behaviour.
Rubber is widely used as sealing material in various applications. In many fields the sealing function at low temperatures is necessary. Therefore the understanding of failure mechanisms is of high importance. Rubbers are normally used above their glass-rubber transition region but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely. Therefore the lower operation temperature limit of rubber seals should be determined in dependence of the material properties. The results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) are combined with the results of the standardized compression set according to ISO 815 respectively a modified test using the DMA equipment.
Elastomers are widely used as the main sealing materials for containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and as an additional component to metal seals in spent fuel and high active waste containers. The safe encapsulation of the radioactive container inventory has to be guaranteed according to regulation and appropriate guidelines for long term storage periods as well as for temperatures as low as -40°C during transport. Therefore, the understanding of failure mechanisms that lead to leakage at low temperatures is of high importance. It is known that the material properties of elastomers are strongly temperature dependent. At low temperatures, this is caused by the rubber-glass transition (abbreviated: glass transition). During continuous cooling, the material changes from a rubber-like entropy elastic to a stiff energy elastic behaviour, which allows nearly no strain or retraction. Hence, rubbers are normally used above their glass transition, but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely; this can cause problems during the above noted applications. Therefore, the lower operation temperature limit of elastomer seals must be determined in dependence of the material properties. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) are combined with standardised measurements to determine the compression set according to ISO 815. To reduce the test time of the standard tests, a faster technique than normally used was developed. Additionally, the breakdown temperature of the sealing function of complete O ring seals was measured in a component test set-up to compare it with the results of the other tests. The experimental set-up is capable of measuring the leakage rate at low temperatures by the pressure rise method. A fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) was selected for this investigation as it is often used for radioactive waste containers. The materials (seals and test sheets) were purchased from a commercial seal producer.
Elastomer seals are widely used as barrier seals in containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and for spent fuel transportation casks. In addition, they are also used for spent fuel storage and transportation casks (dual purpose casks (DPC)) as auxiliary seals to allow leakage rate measurements of metal barrier seals for demonstration of their proper assembling conditions. Depending on the area of use, the rubber materials have to demonstrate proper sealing performance with regard to mechanical, thermal, and environmental conditions as well as irradiation during the entire operation period. Concerning DPC, degradation effects should be limited in a way that, for example, effects from potentially released decomposition elements may not harm e.g. metal barrier seals. Leakage rate measurements should be possible also after long interim storage periods prior to subsequent transportation.
Because of the complex requirements resulting from the various applications of containers for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, BAM has initiated several test programmes for investigating the behaviour of elastomer seals. In this contribution the current status is described and first results are discussed.