Abstract
A mechanical seal promotes the connection between systems or mechanisms, preventing the escape of fluids to the exterior. Nonetheless, due to extreme working conditions, premature failure can occur. Diamond, due to its excellent properties, is heralded as an excellent choice to cover the surface of these devices and extend their lifetime. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to deposit diamond films over mechanical seals and test the coated seals on a water pump, under real working conditions. The coatings were created by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) and two consecutive layers of micro- and nanocrystalline diamond were deposited. One of the main difficulties is the attainment of a good adhesion between the diamond films and the mechanical seal material (WC-Co). Nucleation, deposition conditions, and pre-treatments were studied to enhance the coating. Superficial wear or delamination of the film was investigated using SEM and Raman characterization techniques, in order to draw conclusions about the feasibility of these coatings in the WC-Co mechanical seals with the purpose of increasing their performance and life time. The results obtained gave a good indication about the feasibility of this process and the deposition conditions used, with the mechanical seals showing no wear and no film delamination after a real work environment test.
Highlights
The mechanical seal is a device developed on the late 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s.It allows the connection between systems or mechanisms with the purpose of reducing or eliminating fluid leaking
The results obtained gave a good indication about the feasibility of this process and the deposition conditions used, with the mechanical seals showing no wear and no film delamination after a real work environment test
The technique used to perform the deposition of the diamond film on the seal was hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD)
Summary
The mechanical seal is a device developed on the late 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s It allows the connection between systems or mechanisms with the purpose of reducing or eliminating fluid leaking. These components help to prevent the contamination of the surrounding environment and are used on several equipment, such as pumps or turbines, and with different operating fluids [1,2]. There are two types of mechanical seals, minding the existence or not of movement between the moving parts: statics and dynamics. Dynamic seals are composed of a rotating part and a fixed part, and they are used in seals with high requirements, where static seals tend to fail
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