Sliding Performance of a Hyperelastic Seal

H. van Halewijn[1]
[1]Physixfactor, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Published in 2013

A hyperelastic seal is pulled over a metal ring in a coffee machine for maintenance reasons. The force needed to pull the hyper elastic seal over the part is too high and should be reduced for maintenance reasons. Using the COMSOL Multiphysics® Structural Mechanics Module, and using the non-linear hyperelastic for the stick slip movement, a reliable simulation was generated. It resulted in an improved assembly, and a maximum pulling force of about 11.5 N. Laboratory tests showed maximum pulling forces between 10 and 14 N. COMSOL Multiphysics® was able to predict the forces with high accuracy.