insight.

02|2005

The magazine for Simrit customers

Simmerring PTS
A broad range
of applications
Low temperature PU
Cool seals

Simrit seals in the

Three Gorges dam
A colossal infrastructure project
 Editorial
Editorial information
Simrit® insight is the
magazine for Simrit
customers.
Publisher:
Freudenberg Simrit
GmbH & Co. KG,
D-69465 Weinheim,
Germany
Responsible:
Michael Littig
Telephone:
+49(0)6201-805433
E-mail: insight@simrit.de
Coordination: Matthias
Arnold, Mathias Burkert,
Christian Favetto, Rainer
Laesch, Udo Lange,
Klaus Liesegang,
Meike Rinnbauer
Internet: www.simrit.de
Editorial & design:
Trurnit & Partner
Mediengruppe
Reproduction only with
approval of the publisher
Total circulation:
26 000 copies in French,
English, Italian and
Spanish.
+ + + www.simrit.com + + + www.simrit.com + + + www.simrit.com + +
2 Simrit insight. 02/2005
Dear Customers,
Several months have passed since the
Hannover Trade Fair; nevertheless, I would
like to begin this edition by thanking you:
Thank you for the enormous amount of
interest in our products and for all of the
numerous, fine discussions at the fair. And,
above all else, thank you for the wealth of
suggestions that you made to us - and con-
tinue to make on a daily basis. You can be
certain that each of these suggestions is
taken very seriously by our product mana-
gers and developers, and checked for their
implementability.
In this edition we also introduce an abun-
dance of Simrit innovations. Beginning with
coated ISC O-Rings on to Simmerring® PTS
with a vulcanised PTFE sealing collar all the
way to the new KL and VL hydromounts. In
addition, there is the new low-temperature
material 92 AU 21100, which allows for the
manufacture of reliable sealing systems with
a temperature range from –50 to +100 de-
grees Celsius. This innovation proves once
again our expertise in materials, which goes
back more than 50 years (in regard to
polyurethane, for instance). By the way,
none of the innovations presented in this
magazine are simply laboratory prototypes -
they will be available for delivery soon. The
numerous practical examples in this issue
underscore that.
Our cover story reports on one of the most
colossal infrastructure projects in the history
of mankind: the Three Gorges Dam in cen-
tral China. Inside of this immense technical
machinery are sealing products from Simrit;
inconspicuous yet vitally important and
efficient parts (Page 6).
Dr. Jan Gupta,
Simrit® Europa
The cover story provides me with an oppor-
tunity to point out the huge amount of impor-
tance that Simrit ascribes to the Asian
market. Already in the early 1990’s we,
together with our Japanese partner NOK,
were present in China with several plants.
Since mid-2005 we have our own site,
staffed with with Simrit specialists, located
just outside of Shanghai. Just as we have
regularly done in the past, at the end of
November 2005 we will be represented at
the PTC Asia in Shanghai.
Our partnership with NOK in Japan goes
back almost five decades. In 2000 we
founded, together with NOK and our Indian
partner Sigma, a joint venture in India and
have since continued to further develop it.
(Page 9).
Since the beginning, Simrit has made “Local
Globality” its motto - for the benefit of our
customers. You can be certain: wherever
you are, with Simrit you will find a compe-
tent specialist nearby to contact for all of
your seal and vibration control problems.
With this in mind, I would like to wish you
productive talks and a lot of fun reading
this issue of Simrit insight.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jan Gupta
 Change of leadership
Cover Story
insight.
02|2005

The magazine for Simrit customers

New directors
The Three Gorges Dam is the
greatest geographic infrastructure As of July 1,
project in the history of mankind. Christian Favet-
These Chinese characters stand for to (43) has
three (san) and gorges (xia). The assumed duties
Yangtse River will be backed up Simmerring PTS as the successor
A broad range
for a length of 660 kilometres. The of applications to the late Josef
hydroelectric plant will generate Low temperature PU Jäger, who re-
Cool seals
85 billion kilowatts of electrical po- cently passed
wer annually. Within this immense away, as Regional Sales Director
Simrit seals in the
technical machinery are sealing Three Gorges dam for France-BeneLux-Iberica.
A colossal infrastructure project
products from Simrit that perform a Favetto, previously national sales
show of strength; inconspicuous yet manager for France, has a gradua-
vitally important parts. te degree in economics and has
been with Simrit for 18 months.
Prior to Simrit he was employed for
Contents 18 years by a leading company in
the field of seal technology, in his
News 4
last position as sales manager for
France, Africa and India. Favetto is
Cover Story 6 married and has two children.

Simrit Global 9
Starting 1 Octo-
ber 2005, the
Fields of Application 10 new Regional
Director for
Simmerring® 12 Germany will
be Ralf Schmid.
With the newly developed
Schmid (40)
Simmerring® PTS design type, Simrit
has a master’s
reacts to the continuously increasing
degree in economics, is married
demands in machinery manufacturing
and the father of two children. He
has performed various manage-
Vibration Control 14 ment functions, both domestically
and abroad, in the areas of marke-
Simrit hydromounts resolve the conflic-
ting/sales, logistics, controlling
ting goals of vibration reduction and
and purchasing at a leading com-
structure-borne noise insulation
pany in the chemicals industry.
Most recently he was responsible
ISC O-Ring 16 for the area of brake fluid and refri-
gerants in the automobile industry
Materials 18 and commercial markets in Europe.

+ www.simrit.com + + + www.simrit.com + + + www.simrit.com + + +

Simrit insight. 02/2005 3
News
From left to right:
Dominique Roche
(Purchasing, Borg
Warner), Patrice
Lagrange (Quality
Two awards for Simrit
Assurance, Borg
Warner),
Jean-Luc Paris (Sim- High product and delivery quality
rit France), Alain
For the fourth time, Simrit has been
Schmitt (Product
recognised with the John Deere
Marketing, Meillor
Award. The evaluation criteria for
Cylinder Head
the honour, awarded by all John
Gaskets), Serge
Deere plants, are based on the
Soulier (Quality As-
areas of purchasing, QA, enginee-
surance, Borg War-
ring, logistics and spare parts.
ner), Thomas
John Deere recognised Simrit
Gropp (Purchasing,
above all else for its superb pro-
Borg Warner)
Simrit Tech Day in Kolding
Hearty response
Danfoss and Simrit - both com-
panies have been partners for
decades.
Yet, although the acquaintance is
deep and goes back many years,
the Simrit Tech Day on 21. June
2005 at Danfoss in Kolding
(Denmark) showed that there is still
a great deal of interest across a
broad range of areas on the
part of the developers, design
engineers and purchasers at
Danfoss. From the first presenta-
tion to the last, all seats in the
conference room were taken.
The materials, product develop-
ment and product marketing
experts expounded upon the
fascination of modern elastomer
materials on through to trendset-
ting products and manufacturing
methods. They were also available
for individual contact throughout
the entire event day.
4 Simrit insight. 02/2005
duct quality and delivery perfor-
mance. Furthermore, Simrit also
received the “Supplier Quality
Award 2004” from Borg Warner
for excellence in quality and parti-
cularly for service. Simrit supplies
Borg Warner with, among other
things, Meillor cylinder head
gaskets and membranes.
A personage
Josef Jäger †
Josef Jäger,
Regional
Sales Direc-
tor for the
France-Bene-
Lux-Iberica re-
gion, born on
11. March
1955 in
Weinheim,
had made a
textbook career within the Freu-
denberg Group, in the course of
which he held management positi-
ons in Germany, Belgium and then
France. For years he battled his
illness with the sort of courage that
instilled respect in everyone. We
will all remember Josef as one who
worked tirelessly and was guided
by his devotion to the interests of
his company as well as his team.
As a bridge between two cultures,
he earned the highest regard.
Positive echo worldwide
Simrit: a magnet
Drive and fluid technology profes-
sional circles still speak enthusiasti-
cally about the Simrit appearance
at the Hannover Trade Fair in
April. More than 1500 trade visi-
tors from all continents met at the
bi-level stand in Hall 19 in order
to inform themselves about new
developments at Simrit. This out-
standing number of visitors excee-
ded all previous years by a large
margin! The guests were anxious to
hear about the multitude of perfor-
mance advantages that Simrit’s
product lines have to offer, as well
as about the newest product inno-
vations - from hydraulic mounts for
reducing vibration and for insula-
ting against structure-borne sound
(report on pg. 14) on through to
Simmerring MSS1+ Condition Mo-
nitoring. This particular innovation
attracted the prolonged attention of
trade visitors within the framework
of the VDMA special programme
“Condition Monitoring” in Hall 24.
The live panel of experts, presen-
ted at the stand throughout the day,
met with great approval for the
quality of detailed information on
Simrit product advances that they
communicated.
 News

Epidor and Simrit

50 Years of partnership for our customers

This year both Epidor and Simrit
celebrate a common anniversary:
the 50th year of their successful
partnership. The Spanish firm,
with its headquarters near
Barcelona and numerous other
locations on the Iberian Peninsula,
is specialised in sealing techno-
logy. Due to the high quality and
large variety of products, Epidor
chose to enter a partnership
with Simrit. It has developed
into a strong bond from which,
above all else, customers profit.

15th Simrit Innovation Forum on 17. November 2005 Bellows product line

Personal attendance or via the Internet Expanded

Simrit’s 15th Innovation Forum on
17. November 2005 should not
be missed by anyone. The focus
this time is on innovations in the
areas of Simmerrings, elastomer
compound and precision molded
parts, Merkel hydraulic compo-
nents, new elastomer materials,
the new O-Ring coating concept,
as well as Lube & Seal. Again at
this forum you have the possibility
to attend in person at the Wein-
heim municipal centre or via the
Internet. All presentations will be
simultaneously translated into
English and French. Nearly
182 guests took part in the last
event in March, approximately a
third of them online. Registration
under:
www.simrit.de/innovationsforum
Simrit has more than doubled its
bellows product line offerings in
the newest edition of the Simrit
catalog. A total of 450 design
types are depicted in the catalog -
logically sorted and extensively
described. The customer can
choose from a comprehensive
selection and expect rapid
delivery. Simrit bellows are used
in agricultural and construction
machinery, in equipment manufac-
turing, in conveyor systems and
electronics, as well as in medical
and foodstuffs technology. At the
Hannover Trade Fair in 2005
Simrit introduced a bellows that
permanently seals cable guides.

Trade Fair and Events 2005

Month Dates Trade Fair and Event Stand No. City Country Link

November 17 15th Simrit Innovation Forum Weinheim Germany www.simrit.de/

innovationsforum

22.-23. FVA Information Conference of the Research

Federation for Drive Tech. Würzburg Germany www.fva-net.de

28.11. PTC Asia International Fair for Power

to 1.12. Transmission and Control Hall 3 Shanghai China www.ptc-asia.com

Simrit insight. 02/2005 5

Cover Story

The largest hydro-

electric plant in the
world is being
built on the
Yangtse river: it
can generate up to
85 billion kWh of
electricity per year.
The dam has a
width of 2.3 km.

Simrit seals in the Three Gorges dam power plant in China

Multifunctional infrastructure project

Within the grand scale of the immense technical machinery to be used in the Three
Gorges project in China, seals from Simrit are inconspicuous but absolutely vital parts.
Compact

■ The hydroelectric plant at the Three Gorges dam can generate The Yangtse river (in Chinese improve ship travel, and - last, but
85 billion kWh of electricity per year - 1/9 of China’s current Chang Jiang = long river) is, with not least - provide 1/9 of China’s
annual production. a total length of 6300 kilometres, current total annual electrical
■ Each of the 26 generators, with 700 MW of nominal output, the longest river in China and the power output.
will exceed the output capacity of the Itaipu in Brazil - the lar- third longest in the world. It flows
Backed up for more than
gest hydroelectric plant in the world up until now - by more through a quarter of the arable
660 kilometres
than half. farm land and provides for a third
■ Regarding the dam’s metallic construction, a total of 116 hy- of China’s rural population. The Between the major cities
draulic cylinders will be installed for the opening and closing Yangtse also serves as the lifeline Chongqing and Wuhan, the
of sluices and the gates of the 5-stage ship locks. between western China, which is mighty river forces its way
■ The highest demands for dependability are placed upon the rich in natural resources, and through a 200 km long stretch
seals that are used. eastern China (Shanghai) whose between steep chasms in the
■ Since September 2001 Simrit has been providing Merkel economy is developing most Sichuan highland down to the
chevron seal sets from the ES/EK line to the Chinese cylinder dynamically. central Chinese lowlands.
manufacturer. In the past, the river has also Here the world famous “Three
■ Simrit seals (U-Rings with PTFE back-up rings) are also used brought hardship and death Gorges” (Chinese: San Xia) are
with the so-called servomotors which the energy technology through disastrous flooding. located: Qutang, Wu und Xiling.
specialist Voith Siemens Hydro from Heidenheim, Germany A massive dam, hydroelectric It is at the outlet of the gorges
provides for the San Xia project. plant and ship lock project should that the world’s largest dam and

@
More information under www.simrit.de/insight/titel now, however, tame the river, hydroelectric plant have been
Contact: Klaus.Liesegang@simrit.de bring water to parched regions, under construction in the last few

6 Simrit insight. 02/2005


years. There are even more super-
latives: the San Xia project in
China is the largest geographic
infrastructure project in the history
of mankind. The Yangtse will be
dammed over a length of 660 km
and the project will, once comple-
ted, have forced more than 1 milli-
on people to resettle.
Along with the dam and the hydro-
electric plant, the complex com-
prises an elevated canal and a
series of ship locks. The dam is
2309 metres long and 185 metres
tall. Upon completion the reservoir
will have a volume of 39.3 billion
cubic metres of water. Under nor-
mal conditions, the flow of water
will be 16,000 cubic metres in per
second; at a peak level expected
every 10 years, a flow of 55,000
cubic metres per second is
expected.
Every generator produces
700 megawatts
The hydroelectric power plant will
produce 85 million kWh of electri-
Simrit insight. 02/2005
Cover Story
city per year. Its 26 generators,
each producing 700 MW of
power, will exceed the capacity
of Itaipu in Brazil - the largest
hydroelectric power plant in the
world up until now - by more
than half.
Both the left and right halves of
the dam have a length of more
than 600 metres. The dam should
also absorb the periodic high
water levels, thus preventing
flooding. The Yangtse is the
most important trade route in the
particularly populous regions of
China. By channeling the gorge
currents beneath the surface
of the water, it is expected that
ship traffic will increase by
a volume 5 times today’s rate.
Ships of up to 10,000 tons
should be able to navigate to Merkel U-Rings with PTFE
the important port of Chongqing back-up rings are the seals
in the future. of choice in the hydraulic
And finally, the dam is supposed cylinders for the power plant
to provide the arid northern turbines delivered by Voith
provinces with water. Siemens Hydro.
Dam construction began in
December of 1994. The last
generators are supposed to go The San Xia project in China is the largest geographic
on line in 2009 and the artificial infrastructure project in the history of mankind. The con-
lake will reach its normal level struction project encompasses a dam, high water leve
by 2013. The entire cost of the canal system, a hydroelectric power plant and ship locks.
Three Gorges project is estimated
at 224 billion Yuan (approx.
$27.3 billion).
Seal technology from Simrit
in the hydraulic cylinders
A total of 116 hydraulic cylinders
will be installed for the dam’s
metallic construction in order
to open and close the sluices and Merkel chevron
the gates of the 5-stage ship locks. seal sets from the
These cylinders have a piston ES/EK line are
diameter of up to 650 millimetres used as seals in
and a stroke of up to 15 metres. the 116 hydrau-
This places the utmost demands lic cylinders for
on the reliability of the seals in the opening and
use. Simrit proposed using the closing of
Merkel ES/EK chevron seal sets. sluices.
These seals are in particular
characterised by their extreme
ruggedness in regard to
7
Cover Story

environmental factors and

by their superb operational safety.
The chevron seal sets and the
corresponding design solution
were consequentially specified
for the project.

Approved by officials
Since September 2001, Simrit
provides seals to the Chinese
cylinder manufacturer.
The first series of cylinders has
already been accepted by the
responsible public authority.
Seals from Simrit (U-Rings with
PTFE back-up rings) are also
used in the so-called servomotors,
supplied by the energy technology
specialist Voith Siemens Hydro,
from Heidenheim, Germany,
for the San Xia project.

Positive experience
The servomotors are hydraulic
cylinders for regulating the
control device for a Francis
turbine.
As Voith Siemens Hydro found it
had excellent experience with
The Francis tur-
Simrit products in the past, use of
bines from Voith
the products in the Three Gorges
Siemens are
project - where the smooth
designed for a
interoperation of parts from
nominal power
various suppliers is particularly
output of
critical due to the shear magnitude
700 MW each.
of the entire challenge - was
imperative for reasons of
International Fair for Power Transmission and Control (PTC Asia) reducing risk.

Come visit us in Hall 3 of the International Fair for Power Transmission and Enormous dimensions
Control (PTC Asia) in China’s most modern trade fair centre in Shanghai. It is The detailed data for the Francis
the most influential industrial trade fair in the Asian-Pacific region. The turbines delivered by Voith
exhibition takes place between 28. November and 1. December 2005 in an Siemens reflect the gargantuan
exhibition area encompassing 80000 square metres in the new, completely scope of the entire geographic
booked-out Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). infrastructure project:
the diameter of the massive
416 tonne turbine rotor is
10 metres, the water flow per
second is almost 1000 cubic
metres, the drop of the water
80 metres.

8 Simrit insight. 02/2005


Sujay Dutta, Simrit India
“Geographic proximity is important to our customers”
Simrit is, as a global technology specialist, at home in all markets of the world. Our column “Simrit
Global” takes us this time to India, where Simrit has been present for many years with several Simrit
Service Centres. In 2000, the joint venture Sigma Freudenberg NOK Pvt. Ltd. was founded, headquar-
tered in New Delhi. There, Simrit insight spoke with Sujay Dutta, Sales Director for India.
Mr. Dutta, how long has Simrit
been producing in India?
Production began in November
2001 and has been continuously
increased in recent years. Together
with the products imported from our
European and Asian manufacturing
facilities, we are able to offer our
Indian customers an incomparably
broad spectrum of sealing
products.
Which products do you manu-
facture in India?
In our ultra-modern factory
in Mohali, 270 km outside of
New Delhi, we primarily manu-
facture Simmerrings, but also
shock absorber seals and
valve seals. We supply Indian
customers as well as Simrit’s
international customers in India.
In other words, you are both local-
ly and globally oriented?
The geographic proximity is
very important for our Indian
customers. Our customers expect
individual solutions to their techni-
cal and economic problems, provi-
ded by local specialists in their
respective native language, as
well as just-in-time deliveries from
a local depot.
Which of these Indian customers
are also worldwide Simrit custo-
mers?
A lot of them. Case New Holland,
JCB, John Deere, Cummins, just to
name a few.
How do you convey the global
technical knowledge that your
Simrit insight. 02/2005
employees have to your custo-
mers?
Mostly through personal talks.
Many customers visit our factory
and inform themselves there. Of
course we also conduct seminars
and courses, and attend trade
fairs.
Which trade fairs in India are im-
portant for you?
Above all else it is the Imtex,
India’s largest trade fair for
manufacturers of components for
machinery and equipment.
Are your specialists in regular
contact with research and develop-
ment at Simrit?
Yes, of course. By the way, when
the joint venture was founded in
2001 the core team from our plant
spent six months in Germany
being trained. Our sales engineers
Mohali
Pakistan New Delhi
INDIA
Pune
Chennai
Simrit Global
were also trained extensively by
experienced Simrit engineers.
If you were to summarise the
philosophy of Simrit India in a
single sentence, what would
you say?
As a technology specialist for
Sujay Dutta
seals and vibration control, we
want to provide our customers
with reliable long-term help in
optimising their internal processes
and bringing innovative, top-quali-
ty products into the market.
Simrit Service Centre
New Delhi A-62
Rewari Line Industrial Area
Phase - II, Mayapuri
New Delhi - 110 064
Tel.: +91(0)11-2811 7960
E-mail: sales@sfnindia.com
Tibet
Simrit’s presence in
India includes 3 ser-
vice centres as well
as the factory in
Mohali.
9
Fields of Application

Low-temperature PU material in mobile hydraulics

A forklift with real cool seals

With the newly developed low-temperature material 92 AU 21100, Merkel sealing
systems from Simrit don’t exhibit even the slightest leakage while in use under extreme
conditions in STILL GmbH forklifts in a Danish refrigerated warehouse.

In mobile hydraulic systems, used in

either naturally or artificially cold
environments, demands on the
sealing system utilised are exceptio-
nally high. In some applications,
excavators, snow-cats or mobile
cranes are subjected to night-time
temperatures as low as -50º. Even
under these extreme conditions, full
and immediate operability is expec-
ted of seals. Even the smallest leaks
are unacceptable, both economical-
ly and ecologically. Even in artifici-
al cold zones, such as filling
systems for liquid hydrogen, where
temperatures of -40º C can occur at
filling nozzles, or in regard to spe-
cial-use vehicles with hydraulic
components in use in refridgerated
environments, great demands are
made in terms of the resistance
to cold temperatures.
Mathias Burkert, Product Marketing
Manager at Merkel Mobilhydraulik,
cites as an example a forklift from the
Simrit customer STILL GmbH which is
Compact

■ A forktruck at STILL GmbH is operated a maximum of 2 hours in a In mobile hydraulic systems, used in either naturally or artificially cold environ-
warehouse refrigerated at a constant -23º C. ments, demands on the sealing system utilised are exceptionally high.
■ Due to the brief operating periods, the hydraulic fluid is just briefly
warmed up before quickly cooling again.
■ The sealing system, based on the low-temperature material A material for extremes
operated in a Danish refrigerated
92 AU 21100, shows no leakage even under these extreme ware-house and is equipped with Engineer Thomas Acksen, Director
conditions. Simrit seals based on the newly de- of Development at the Center of
■ The PU material 92 AU 21100 has significant advantages com- veloped low-temperature polyure- Components Cylinder of the STILL
pared to conventional materials used previously, particularly in thane material 92 AU 21100. Seals GmbH, and responsible for deve-
regard to sudden shaft movements at low temperatures. made of this material are still suffi- loping hydraulic cylinders in the
■ Compared to standard materials, better sealing attributes are ciently flexible even at temperatures Linde group, describes the appli-
attained not only at low temperatures with 92 AU 21100, rather down to -50º C. “92 AU 21100 is cation’s ambient temperature:
throughout the entire range of applications. an example of Simrit’s material ex- ”After half an hour of operation,
pertise, which goes back 50 years the temperature of the forklift hy-
More information under www.simrit.de/insight/anwendungsfelder in regard to their polyurethane ex- draulic fluid is +21º C, while the

@ Contact: mathias.burkert@freudenberg.de perience.”, says Burkert.” ambient temperature in which the

10 Simrit insight. 02/2005

 Fields of Application

vehicle is operated is a constant

-23ºC. Under these conditions, the Dynamic calculations on a 3-D model
vehicle is operated continuously
for a maximum of two hours, Material A: Conventional material
whereby the hydraulic fluid and Material B: 92 AU 21100
Geometry: U-Ring
the components are only briefly
Dimensions: 50–65–10
warmed up before quickly cooling Cylinder deflection: +/- 0.15 mm in 0.2 sec.
down again.”
The existing sealing system, con-
sisting of a dual wiper and shaft
0,3mm
seal made of conventional polyu-
rethane, proved to be unsuitable
for the extreme conditions and
constantly leaked. In response to
this, Simrit delivered the previously
mentioned seals in the newly deve-
loped low-temperature PU material Testing the cold flexibility of the seal
92 AU 21100. With seals and wi-
pers made of this material the fork-
lift now runs problem-free in the re-
frigerated warehouse. “The impro-
Contact period for touching the cylinder
vement was a achieved solely by at different temperatures for standard polyurethane 92 AU 21100
using seals made of this innovative 1,E + 03
material for our cylinders”, states 1,E + 03
Standard PU

Thomas Acksen, adding “Nothing

1,E + 02
in the design of the guide cylinder
1,E + 01
was changed.”
1,E - 01 92 AU 21100
Test bench and field tests 1,E - 02
“Together with Simrit, we tested 1,E - 03
Contact period in sec.

the suitability of the material for 1,E - 04

extreme temperatures and optimi-
sed frictional behaviour with tests
on the test bench and in the field”,
emphasised Thomas Acksen,
Contact period for touching the cylinder, for different materials
continuing: “Principally, guide
cylinders are subjected to great
shear forces, and in the full exten-
ded position a sudden deflection
can occur. In regard to this sudden
deflection at low temperatures, the
PU material 92 AU 21100 proved
to provide significant advantages
compared to conventional materi-
als.” Mathias Burkert explained
the test sequence at Simrit: “The
cold flexibilty of the part is deter-
mined by deliberately deflecting
the piston rod. The quicker the the
seal can follow the deflection, the
better its low-temperature beha-
viour. The loading frequency and
loading speed play an important
role here.”
1,E -05
-40 -30 -20 -10 00 +10 +20 +30
Temperature in °C
From -50 up to +100º C always leakproof
The new polyurethane material 92 AU 21100 was especially conceived
for use in low-temperature applications down to -50º C. However it is
also suitable for standard applications up to +100º C. What is distinctive
about 92 AU 21100 is its exceptionally advantageous visco-elastic
behaviour. This means that the soft parts of the material remain flexible
across a greater temperature range and only grow stiff at very low
temperatures. That way these seals immediately exhibit the necessary
sealing qualities in operation, even at the lowest temperatures.
Other important sealing traits, such as hardness and tensile strength, are
not negatively affected; to the contrary - with the new 92 AU 21100,
significant improvements compared to conventional polyurethane
materials can be attained throughout the application range.

Simrit insight. 02/2005 11

Simmerring®

Simmerring PTS with vulcanised-bonded PTFE chevron seal

Modular design – broad application range

With the newly developed Simmerring® PTS, Simrit reacts to constantly rising demands in
machinery and equipment manufacturing. Furthermore: completely new applications are
possible with this innovative Simmerring.

This axial piston pump is a likely ap-

plication for the new Simmerring PTS.

Simmerrings are proven machine countless thousands of operating
parts which reliably fulfill the hours. And, to keep it that way,
sealing function for an enormous Simrit engineers continue to de-
variety of shaft designs over velop Simmerings further in order
Compact for them to also adapt to new
ambient technical conditions.
■ A combination of a partially rubberised support housing and For instance, for new high-
vulcanised-bonded PTFE chevron seal additive synthetic greases or
■ Secure static sealing even with pressure impact, up to at least even materials which are difficult
10 bar to lubricate, which compromise
■ Leakage rate reduction by factor 14 compared to conventional an elastomer seal, especially
PTFE seals when at the same time greater
operating tolerances are being
required from equipment. The only
Contact: matthias.arnold@freudenberg.de solution to these demands up until
now was offered by PTFE seals.
PTFE’s unique attributes, such as
its outstanding high and low
temperature resistance of
-60° C to +260° C, and its
resistance to virtually all sorts
of media, make this material
indispensable for seal technology.
A broad spectrum of
possible uses
In order to provide a reliable seal,
Simmerings made of PTFE require
a helical return groove in the seal
edge. This kind of Simmering has

12 Simrit insight. 02/2005

 Simmerring®

been used very successfully for

years to seal crankshafts. Under
certain operating conditions, such
Abrasive wear in dry run
as when under a pressure load or Simmerring PTS 40-55-7, runtime 72 hr, 8,000 1/min, two test specimens each
with reversing rotation of the
shaft, the sealing performance is 0,8
unstable due to the material-rela-
0,7
ted traits of PTFE. With the new
Simmerring PTS Simrit has succee- 0,6
ded in combining the outstanding
0,5
advantages of PTFE with the func-
tional characteristics of elastomers. 0,4
With this, Simrit offers a Simmer-
0,3
ring which is distinguished by its
uncommon versatility in regard to 0,2
the most varied demands. With
Wear in mm

0,1
the Simmerring PTS the PTFE seal
collar is vulcanised-bonded on an 0
elastomer. PTFE 537 PTFE 537 18169 18169 18225 18225
Together with a partially rubberi-
sed support housing, the Simmer- Wear values in dry run for various PTFE composite materials

ring PTS ensures:

■ The full functional advantages of

PTFEs for the seal edge
■ A stable, static seal effect, even Friction point development under load
if the pressure impact on the
retainer seat reaches 10 bar n = 2.000 1/min
■ Thanks to the rubberising of the 0,7
support, no pasting in of the Conventional seal
seal in the housing. 0,6
Simmerring PTS
0,5
An integrated protective lip made
50 %
of elastomer prevents external 0,4
contaminants from reaching the
seal lip. 0,3 Wear reduction
This way two seals can often be
replaced by one. Furthermore, 0,2
Friction point in Nm

new highly wear-resistant and

0,1
anti-abrasive optimised PTFE
compounds have been thoroughly 0
tested - also for use in the food- 0 2 4 6
stuff industry. Pressure in bar

Leakage rate improved by
up to factor 100
With reversing shaft rotational direc-
tions, PTFE seals are usually used
without media return structures.
With the new Simmerring PTS, the
leakage rates could be reduced by
a factor of 14 in comparison to
standard PTFE seals. If extremely
tight sealing requirements are
With the new Simmerring PTS, a reduction of friction of up to 50 % can be achieved.
made, then the Simmerring PTS also offers the Simmerring PTS with
with reversible torsion is available. reversible torsion for applications
With pressures up to 0.3 bar the with a predefined rotational direc-
measured leakage rates are re- tion. This way, for instance, shafts
duced in fact by up to factor 100 with hydrostatic drives can be
compared to common commercial- reliably sealed with pressures of
ly available seals. Simrit, however, up to 6 bar at 6.3 m/s.

Simrit insight. 02/2005 13

Vibration Control

Innovative Simrit hydromount

Optimum solution to a goal conflict

Simrit Hydromounts solve the goal conflict between effective vibration reduction
whilst achieving good structure-borne sound insulation.

frequency mechanical vibration.

At the same time, low frequency
oscillation of the suspended
Figure 1: The structure must be controlled.
Simrit’s KL hydro- Both of these goals, which place
mount excels at conflicting demands on the parts
efficient, narrow used, were taken into account
bandwidth, ad- in the development of the new
justable vibration Simrit hydromounts for use in
damping at low suspending operators’ cabs or
frequencies. At the similar application areas.
same time it offers Controlling the effects of cabin
a significant im- resonance requires a mounting
provement to with a high degree of rigidity and
noise behaviour. damping. However, good acoustic
isolation from engine noise for
example, requires low stiffness
and damping.

Increased comfort expectations
that the legal environment and
customers place on cabin suspen-
Compact sion for agricultural and construc-
tion machinery can no longer be
■ Simrit Hydromounts solve the goal conflict between effective fulfilled with conventional elasto-
vibration reduction whilst achieving good structure-borne mer mounts. Hydraulic mounts
sound insulation present the optimum solution.
■ Innovative design of the hydraulic components They are utilised where cabins,
■ Developed for use in agricultural and construction machinery machinery, equipment assemblies
or other components need be
Contact: Udo.Lange@freudenberg.de elastically insulated from high-
Individually matching
customer requirements
The KL and VL hydromounts from
Simrit provide an almost perfect
solution to the conflict of goals.
The innovative approach allows
for an individual match to the
customer’s particular situation.
Thus the hydraulic mount KL
(Figure 1) permits the efficient,
narrow bandwidth damping effect
to be adjusted across a broad
frequency range. The details speak
for themselves:
■ Suspension of cabin weights
between 500 and 1000 kilos
■ Excellent vibration reduction in
the low frequency range, to
control cab oscillation
■ Good insulation from mechani-
cal vibration
■ Maximum damping between
adjustable from 5-15 Hz
■ Amplitude-independent damping
effect

14 Simrit insight. 02/2005

 Vibration Control

■ Customisation of the product to

customer requirements and
constraints
■ Short development time and
quick delivery of sample parts
■ Support for the layout and
optimisation of the entire cabin
suspension system as additional
service

The new KL hydromount from Simrit

integrates known technical principles
and implements these in a new way.
Starting with the dynamic vertical
displacement of the conical bea-
ring, a liquid is pumped back and
forth between the main chamber
and a compensation cavity. This
creates currents which result in
mass effects as well as fluid dam-
ping. Due to the novel design of
the fluid components, very efficient
solutions to the goal conflict can
be realised. The Simrit KL Hydro-
mount offers a marked improve-
ment in vibration isolation.
It is therefore ideally suited to Figure 2: The VL hydromount from Simrit provides broad bandwidth vibration
those applications requiring high damping at low frequencies.
levels of noise and vibration con-
trol, in order to meet regulatory
combustion engines, for example, due to their suspension can potential-
requirement. The VL Hydromount
which simultaneously generate vibra- ly benefit greatly from improved
offers a wide spectrum damping
tions in different frequency ranges vibration and noise control through
characteristic (Figure 2).
and are subject to other vibrations the use of Simrit hydromounts.
Compared to other types of
hydraulic mounting the lower
chamber of the VL mounting has a
much lower rigidity. This allows for VL, hydromounts, low damping in acoustic range
a better compromise between
500
effective vibration reduction, and
450 Competitor’s displacement bearing, approx. 65 ShA
the reduction of structurally borne
400
noise. (Figure 3).
350
Specific damping effect (Nmm/mm)

Usage not limited to con- 300

struction and agriculture 250 s = ±0,05 mm

Although Simrit hydromounts were 200

conceived for agricultural and 150 VL hydromounts, 65 ShA

construction machinery cabin 100

suspension, their usage is not 50
limited to these applications. 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
The products offer the same advan-
Frequency (Hz)
tages for other types of vehicle
cabins to which similar factors Figure 3: The Simrit VL hydromounts offer substantially reduced damping and thus
apply. However, other machinery, improved structure-borne sound insulation than comparable hydraulic
plants and equipment, such as bearing from other manufacturers.

Simrit insight. 02/2005 15

ISC O-Ring

Coated ISC
O-Rings make
mounting much
easier, which
leads to substan-
tial savings
through-out the
process chain.

Coated ISC O-Rings

Fewer faults – fewer costs

ISC O-Rings with different coatings improve not only the service life and the dynamic
usage applications of the seal element, they also provide for better mounting
conditions, which can in part lead to dramatic savings in regard to processes.

That O-Rings have to have excel- ting. For the medical technology
lent sealing attributes goes without specialists at Dräger Medical, for
saying. The demands, however, go instance, the parameters “long
far beyond this actual use pur- service life” and “low wastage”
pose: Customers also require are way up at the top of their list
above-average performance of demands. ISC O-Rings with
values in upstream processes such custom coatings are the ideal
as handling, sorting and moun- solution for these kinds of
Compact customer requirements.
Application example in
The advantages of coated ISC O-Rings
medical technology
(ISC = International Specified Certified)
■ Ease of mounting (no damage, no sticking, no twisting, no For example, the filling nozzle
contamination) of an anasthesia vaporiser:
■ Reduction of insertion force (reduced, work-friendly insertion Dräger requires a service live
force, consistent insertion force after repeated mounting and of between five to seven years
demounting, reduced risk of shearing) for these seal elements.
■ Suitability for dynamic usage (reduced wear and wastage of As O-Rings can be easily dama-
O-Ring. Reduced wear while operational - extends the service ged due to their prominent locati-
life) on, a coating should provide
protection.
mounting. A decision was there-
fore made for an ISC O-Ring from
Simrit made of 70 EPDM 281 with
a plasma coating, which also
performed very well in endurance
tests during service life testing:
”In internal tests, in regard to dura-
bility the required test cycles were
all passed.” states development
enginer Dirk-Stefan Reichert. For a
different application at Dräger Me-
dical a reduction of contact friction
of coated O-Rings is decisive: In a
drive for a respiratory ventilator,
an O-Ring, upon which a slide
coating (SCA) has been applied,
is used as a damping part. The
design appears as a motor that
drives a spindle, which itself
moves up and down.
In order to protect the spindle from

@ More information under www.simrit.de/insight/iscoring

Contact: rainer.laesch@freudenberg.de
At the same time Dräger wanted to
prevent sticking of the rings during
damage in case of failure, there is
an O-Ring mounted as a damping

16 Simrit insight. 02/2005


part between the receiver plate
and spindle nut. “With uncoated
O-Rings, the O-Ring sticks to the
plate.” explains Kai Wegener
from Dräger.
The friction point was so high with
uncoated rings that the spindles
often got stuck. With the slide coa-
ting the problem could be solved.
Rainer Laesch, Product Manager
for ISC O-Rings, summarised in
three points the essential advanta-
ges of coated O-Rings: “Ease of
mounting, reduced insertion force,
and better suitability for dynamic
applications.”
Drastically reduced frictional
forces
As described in the application
example cited above, a coating
reduces frictional forces, which
has a positive effect on mounting.
This way the danger of damage to
the ISC O-Ring is minimised, as
well as speeding up the overall
time required for insertion and
removal. When used in a plug
system a low-force mounting is
possible. “When coated with a
slide coating containing silicone
(SCA type coating), the frictional
values and insertion force can be
reduced by about 85%, for exam-
ple”, says Rainer Lesch.
Low frictional values also aid the
dynamic usage of the seal ele-
ment, which makes an impact in
terms of a longer service life.
“With a coating of dry slide coa-
ting (SCB coating type), for exam-
ple, the friction in dynamic use
can be reduced by around 75%”
explains Laesch.
The rationalisation process by
means of O-Ring coating is large.
Rainer Laesch describes the start
situation: “At one of our customers’
2.2 million O-Rings are mounted
manually per year.
The span for mounting the O-Ring
is 20 mm, whereby twisting,
erroneous mounting and damage
of the seal element occurred
Simrit insight. 02/2005
ISC 0-Ring
repeatedly. By using a coated repairing damaged parts as well.
ISC O-Ring we were able to re- Along with these improvements the
duce the mounting error rate for assembly time could be cut back
errors from 3% to .02%.” by 4%. This is made possible by
the low-friction, worker-friendly
Savings potential up to a
mounting as well as the shorter
7-digit sum in Euros
time needed for sorting the
That had a very positive effect on O-Rings.
the overall calculation. As a result Rainer Laesch sums it all up:
of the drastically reduced error “Just the direct economic total
rate, the number of possible rejects benefit for the customer due to the
at final inspection dropped shar- previously mentioned functional
ply, and with it not only the effort chain amounted to 45,000 Euro
for damage analysis rather for per year.”
Low-force mounting
300
Uncoated
200
100
Coated
Force in N
0
0 20 40 60
Distance in mm
Reduction of insertion force
Longer service life through low frictional values
2,0
Uncoated
1,5
1,0
Coated
Frictional values in µ
,5
0
0 300 600 900 1200
Glide path in m
Friction value reduction in dynamic use
17
Materials

Media resistance of elastomers in oils and greases

Greases and seals as overall solution

The effectiveness of a seal material depends to a great extent upon the respective ambient medium. The
Simrit service offering “Lube & Seal” provides the customer with a chemically and mechanically-dynamic
product programme that is perfectly matched.

The ideal material

275
PTFE Conditionally suitable
250
Maximum operating temperature (°C)

FKM Not suitable for seals where

225
there is contact to oils
200 VMQ
FVMQ
175
ACM
150 AEM EPDM
HNBR
HR
125 ECO
CR
NBR
100 AU BR
SBR
NR
75
50
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Swelling in reference oil IRM 903 (in %)

Relative heat and oil resistance of elastomers for use in motor and transmission applications with usage of standard reference oil.

Compact

■ The effectiveness of a seal material depends to a great extent In addition to the application
upon the respective ambient medium. temperature range, the chemical
■ Testing of the behaviour of rubber-elastic materials in resistance and the swelling be-
comparison to liquids is performed in accordance with haviour of the elastomer are of
DIN ISO 1817 in the medium to be used or in a standardised great importance when selecting
test liquid. a suitable material for a seal.
■ Expanding application temperature ranges, longer oil That is why information about
change intervals and the trend to completely synthetic which fluid or gas media the
lubricants require specifically proven and selected materials. material will come into contact
■ With the service offering “Lube & Seal” Simrit offers a with plays such a decisive role as
functionally perfectly matched comprehensive package. to the application and performan-
ce effectivity of a material.
The old maxim of chemistry “simi-
lia similibus solvuntur” (same dis-
Contact: meike.rinnbauer@freudenberg.de solves same) applies in regard to
selecting seal material; that means
that a covalent material (such as
EPDM) is not resistant to a
covalent medium. Further, many
material attributes such as hard-
ness, density, tensile strength and
elasticity as well as electrical and
optical attributes such as the
colour and texture are also
changed in reaction to media.
Complex processes
The effect of media, such as oils
and grease, always cause two dif-
ferent processes which could nega-

18 Simrit insight. 02/2005


tively influence the elastomer,
hence the sealing function: the
physical swelling and the chemical
impact. With the latter, the
material is - in contrast to simply
swelling - irreversibly chemically
altered by the medium.
Regarding swelling, diffusion
causes the absorption of the
medium into the rubber structure.
The medium can hereby combine
with the polymer chain or extract
compound ingredients from the
rubber structure, which can lead to
a change in the seal volume and
weight. Volume swelling does not,
under certain circumstances,
present a risk to the fulfilling of
the rubber seal function.
A shrinking of volume, however,
leads to a loss of the sealing capa-
bility in the form of leakage. If the
medium dissolves into (in either
gas or liquid form) the media,
without going through pores or
cracks, it is referred to as permea-
tion. Such a process leads to seal
leakage. The causes of damage lie
Media submersion of elastomer test
specimens in the 80x the volume of the
lubricant
Simrit insight. 02/2005
therefore not only with the manu-
facturer, rather are also due to
extraneous influences such as
the effects of oils, greases, gases
on the elastomer, which can then
cause chemical as well as physical
changes.
Testing the behaviour of rubber-
elastic materials in regard to
fluids is done in accordance with
DIN ISO 1817 in the media which
is used in the application or in
a standardised test fluid (e.g.
ASTM-Öl No.1, IRM 903, FAM-
Prüfkraftstoffe). Standardised test
media have the advantage that the
composition of the lubricant is
known, hence a direct comparison
of different materials is possible.
Elastomer test speciments are
stored in 80 times their volume of
the test medium at a prescribed
temperature and time period.
Heightened temperatures can in-
crease the oxidation of the elasto-
mer, its evaporation or the disinte-
gration of the test fluid and also
sharply increase the effects of che-
mical additives in the medium. In
order to simulate operating condi-
tions when using the application
fluid the test conditions should be
made similar to the operating con-
ditions and the temperature should
be the same or higher than the
operating temperature.
High demands
Continually increasing demands
are being placed on seal materials
in the area of motors and transmis-
sions. Along with a plethora of ba-
sic oils, the new generation of syn-
thetic oils contain a high propor-
tion of additives. These serve to in-
crease the long-term stability and
function of the lubrication media
as well as to prevent corrosion,
contamination and foaming. At the
same time the “additive packages”
can chemically attack and destroy
the seal materials. Expanding ap-
plication temperature ranges of
–40 to +175° C, longer oil-change
Materials
intervals and the trend to comple-
tely synthetic lubricants require
specifically proven and selected
materials. To this end, Simrit has
developed the new service offe-
ring “Lube & Seal” together with
its affiliated company Klüber
Lubrication, in which the functional
relationships between seal and
lubricant have been exhaustingly
tested. This way Simrit is in a
position to offer its customers a
perfectly matched “seal and
lubricant” system.
Test area for
the functional
tests “seal
and lubri-
cant” for
Simmerrings
Based on extensive static and dynamic test series, Simrit
can offer its customers an exactly matched system “Seal
and Lubricant”.
In practice, along with media
resistance there are a number of
other factors that influence the ap-
plication suitability of an elastomer
for certain uses. That is why it is
recommendable to make the selec-
tion together with the seal manufac-
turer, who knows best the possibili-
ties and limitations of each of the
respective materials in detail.
19
Simrit_Dachmarke_gb KDM05.qxd 29.09.2005 10:30 Uhr Seite 1

The Simrit Service Package

Solutions for Your Success

Simrit, Your Global Technology Specialist

for Seals and Vibration Control, offers you
a complete service package.
Make the most of the Simrit service When will you benefit from Simrit’s
package offering numerous benefits: service package? www.simrit.com

The technological edge due to

constant innovations

Savings in cost and time by using Headquarter

a single source for a uniquely wide
range of products
Increased efficiency, using unique
materials expertise to extend the
service life of your components
Freudenberg Simrit KG
69465 Weinheim, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 1805-746748
Fax: +49 (0) 1803-746748
e-mail: info@simrit.de

The competitive edge due to our

wide range of value added services

Simrit, Your Global Technology Specialist

for Seals and Vibration Control, offers
you all this from one source.