A new rubber-lubricant compatibility test on a tribometer for radial shaft seals

The present study deals with the development of a new dynamic test method to evaluate the elastomerlubricant compatibility on a tribologically equivalent system for radial shaft seals (RSS), the ring cone tribometer (RFT). The suitability of the RFT for compatibility testing was demonstrated based on tests on RSS and static aging tests with comparable operating conditions. There was good agreement between RSS and RFT tests, whereas static aging did not produce valid results due to the lack of tribological loading. The tests showed that the course of the friction coefficient and the optical analysis are highly informative regarding an assessment of compatibility. However, the occurrence of leakage, a change in hardness and the course of cell lowering during the test run also allow conclusions to be drawn about incompatibility.