Thermal distortion characteristics of spiral groove gas face seals are investigated for cases of high temperature. The influence of ambient temperature and temperature difference on the thermal distortion and the sealing performance is analyzed with consideration of gas thermoviscosity effect. It is found that, the thermal distortion makes the opening force decrease slightly with the increasing ambient temperature, while the thermoviscosity effect causes the leakage rate decrease obviously. Temperature difference between the inner and outer diameters plays a more important role in thermal distortion of the seal face, which results in a sharp divergence distortion accompanying with decrease of the opening force and increase of the leakage rate. This means a large temperature difference may significantly reduce the sealing performance.
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