Radial shaft seals: How ageing in oil and hyper-viscoelasticity affect the radial force and the numerically predicted wear

In this paper, a comprehensive finite element model is revised and improved to investigate the role of ageing and viscous effect in the clamping force decrease and the predicted wear. The finite element model considers the effects of actual seal geometry, seal wear, shaft wear, temperature, rubber viscoelasticity and ageing. The comprehensive modelling approach, the application of actual seal geometry determined by newly developed measurement approaches, and temperature- and ageing-dependent hyper-viscoelastic constitutive constants obtained by simultaneous consideration of quasi-static and dynamic test results are the novel characteristics of this study. It was found that the applied ageing has a moderate while the viscous nature of rubber has a significant effect on the clamping force and predicted wear of seals.