David S. Rule

Wear Testing of Seals in Magneto-Rheological Fluids©

Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid-based dampers can be used in suspensions to modify ride, handling, and suspension frequencies in autos. We have developed a unique seal wear test method to simulate the wear of rod seals in Magneto-rheological fluid-based dampers. In this test, seal material samples in the form of rectangular coupons are immersed in a bath of MR fluid, and a section of the rod is brought into contact with the seal coupon. The rod is loaded against the coupon with a known normal force, and a variable-frequency reciprocating machine is used to stroke the rod back and forth across the material coupon surface. Test conditions such as normal load, frequency and amplitude of oscillation, and temperature are adjusted to simulate desired conditions. This bench test method ranks various seal materials qualitatively in the correct order (as determined in field tests with these seal materials) in terms of wear and abrasion resistance and constitutes a valid test procedure for the screening of seal materials, MR fluids, and rod surface coatings.