Fundamental And Tribological Analysis of Mechanical Face Seal: A Review

Abstract

Earlier centrifugal pump shafts were sealed via rings of elastic packing, squashed by a packing gland, but this sort of shaft seal needs a fair quantity of leakage just to lubricate the packing and keep it cool. Then the use of mechanical face seals began to increase, in which two optically flat surfaces are used out of which one is a primary or rotary ring and the other is a secondary or fixed ring. Predetermined failure of the mechanical seal may occur due to many reasons like improper assembly, mishandling, inadequate lubrication, adhesive and abrasive wear, improper material selection, etc. This paper describes the summary for the construction and working of the mechanical face seal, a detailed discussion regarding the tribological behavior of the seal faces under different lubricating conditions. The significance of hydropads, grooves, and textured seal faces on hydrostatic and hydrodynamic lubrication in sealing gaps has also been discussed along with different heat transfer augmentation techniques.