The powder paint cure process offers economic and environmental advantages to the hydraulic cylinder manufacturer. However, this process does present some challenges when the selection of the sealing system is considered. Some materials and seal configurations undergo a substantial reduction in the sealing lip force gradient when exposed to elevated temperatures even for a short duration of time. This degradation of the seal lip force gradient can result in poor seal performance and decreased seal life. Temperature data acquired from a cylinder in a powder paint cure process will be used to develop a laboratory test procedure to simulate seal exposure to the powder paint process conditions, this procedure will then be used to evaluate seal compression lip set and seal leakage on various seal materials and seal configurations. The results of this testing will be used to generate guidelines and offer recommendations on seal materials and seal configurations that are more capable of withstanding the parameters inherent with the powder paint cure process.
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