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Surface Coating 

Date: 17.10.19
Surface Coating Superhero Fights Friction
A coating on the nano scale can reduce friction during assembly and in service, extending seal life significantly.-By Matthias Engler

IN SHORT

  • Shock absorbers are critical to good control and safe handling, but friction is an issue.
  • Seal-Glide® Nano is ten to 50 times thinner than typical coatings and reduces friction and stick-slip.
Super Powers
Seal-Glide® Nano is an extremely thin coating with the effectiveness of an inconspicuous superhero. At around 450 nanometers thick, it is ten to 50 times thinner than typical coatings. Its main super power is to significantly reduce the friction coefficient of elastomer seals and improve their stickslip properties substantially without affecting the original properties of the seals. Ultimately, that means that seals coated with Seal-Glide® Nano have a higher service life due to reduced friction when in motion or during installation.

Why Seal-Glide® Nano

Seal-Glide® Nano utilizes a proprietary process to apply a nanoscale coating layer on the surface of a seal. This provides for easy handling by preventing sticking, which is a significant advantage during automated assembly.

In comparison with thicker coatings, Seal-Glide® Nano offers a ‘lighter touch’ that is applicable for any kind of elastomer and geometries.

Ultimately, this coating reduces friction, which enables shock absorbers to react quicker and adjust to radial movements. The faster the suspension reacts to the road surface, the better and more secure the handling of a vehicle.

Low friction is also a key point for manufacturing, as shock absorbers are produced in high volume in automated processes. The quicker these operate, the better the turnaround times and factory output.

Initial Co-efficient of Friction (COF) Value Improvemet

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has over 30 years of experience in coating of elastomer seals and offers numerous coatings and surface treatments to suit customer needs. For further details of Trelleborg's full range, please contact your local Trelleborg Sealing Solutions marketing company.
Initial Co-efficient of Friction (COF) Value
Material Untreated Treated Treated and Aged Test Conditions

FKM

1.01

0.33

0.51

Air aging (168hrs/+200 °C)

 

 

 

 0.48

IRM 903 (168hrs/+100 °C)

 

 

 0.37 FAM-B (168hrs/+60 °C)

NBR

0.96

0.22

0.26

Air aging (168hrs/+100 °C)

0.23

IRM 903 (168hrs/+100 °C)

HNBR

1.24

0.32

0.29

 Air aging (168hrs/+100 °C)

 

0.38

 IRM 903 (168hrs/+100 °C)

EPDM

1.67

0.26

0.29

 Air aging (168hrs/+100 °C)

0.32

 Havoline: Water 1:1 (168hrs/+135 °C)

 

 

 

0.59

 DOT4 (168hrs/+125 °C)

FVMQ

0.91

0.37

0.59

 FAM-B (168hrs/+60 °C)

AEM

1.28 0.36 0.26  Air aging (168hrs/+100 °C)
SHOCK ABSORBERS ARE CRITICAL DAMPING ELEMENTS IN VEHICLES.

They ensure good control and safe handling by damping unwanted body movements and maintaining constant contact with the road for tires. 

A typical challenge for shock absorbers is friction, both during assembly and in operation. This negatively affects manufacturing and vehicle performance. A solution is Seal-Glide® Nano, a coating specifically designed to reduce friction.

Key Automotive Customer Benefits from Seal-Glide® Nano

A key automotive customer of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has made use of a Seal-Glide® Nano coated energizer in the shock absorber of a suspension system.  Within this critical sealing element, Seal-Glide® Nano is applied to a custom-molded part shaped like a disc. The specific objective was to improve functional performance by reducing friction between the energizer and the seal, and between the energizer and the shock absorber housing.

Neal Borg, Product Manager at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Malta, explains: “The application of Seal- Glide® Nano proved to be a value adding solution for the customer. Seal-Glide® Nano provided a clean and dry solution, which not only reduced assembly forces and improved the feed rate in automated assembly lines, but also creating benefits in the sealing functionality of this ride-control application.”

GLOBAL COLLABORATION

Seal-Glide® Nano was developed jointly by Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Malta and Stuttgart, Germany. Manufacturing and research & development specialists joined forces to create added-value for automotive partners and customers supplied in high volumes.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions invests heavily in research and development worldwide. Malta and Stuttgart represent two of eight global centers of excellence.

Our facility in Malta, the lead high-volume manufacturing site specializes in the development and production of O-Rings, engineered molded parts and multi-component solutions.

Watch our film about advanced sealing solutions capabilities of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Malta, click here.