Rubber seals vs metal seals: Which is right for your application?

In the industrial field, both rubber seals and metal seals play an important sealing role. But when choosing the seal suitable for your application, you may face an important decision: should you choose rubber seals or metal seals? Let's compare their advantages and disadvantages below so that you can make a more informed choice.

Rubber seals:

Advantages:

Good elasticity: Rubber seals have good elasticity and can effectively fill the gaps on the sealing surface to ensure the sealing effect.

Good sealing: Since the rubber material itself has good plasticity and can adapt to sealing surfaces of different shapes, it has good sealing.

Wear and corrosion resistance: Rubber seals are usually made of wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant rubber materials and have a long service life.

Disadvantages:

Temperature limit: The high temperature resistance of rubber seals is relatively poor, and it is not suitable for long-term work in high temperature environments.

Pressure limit: In high-pressure environments, the pressure-bearing capacity of rubber seals is limited, and it is easy to deform or break.

Metal seals:

Advantages:

High temperature resistance: Metal seals are usually made of high temperature resistant metal materials and can maintain good sealing performance in high temperature environments.

Strong pressure resistance: Metal seals have high pressure bearing capacity and can work for a long time in high pressure environments.

Corrosion resistance: Metal seals have good corrosion resistance and are suitable for sealing needs of various corrosive media.

Disadvantages:

Poor elasticity: The elasticity of metal seals is relatively poor, the sealing surface is not close enough, and the sealing effect may not be as good as rubber seals.

High cost: Compared with rubber seals, metal seals have higher manufacturing costs and are relatively expensive.

Conclusion:

Considering the advantages and disadvantages of rubber seals and metal seals, you can choose the most suitable seal type according to your specific application scenario. If your application environment requires high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and strong pressure bearing capacity, then metal seals may be more suitable for your needs; if your application environment temperature is low, pressure is low, and the sealing performance requirements are high, then rubber seals may be more suitable for your application.

[DLSEALS kindly Reminder] Sealing issues? Turn to DLSEALS! As a sealing component manufacturer, we specialize in customizing sealing components, providing a full range of services from design, research and development, production, testing, and more. If you have more information you'd like to know, feel free to contact us directly. DLSEALS's product experts are dedicated to serving you!