A theoretical model for calculating the leakage rate of contact mechanical seals based on the fractal theory of the porous media, which can consider the real seal contact interface and objectively reflect the flow of the interfacial fluid from a microscopic perspective, is established. In order to obtain the microstructural parameters of the porous media included in the leakage model, such as the fractal dimension and the maximum pore diameter, the real seal contact interface obtained from experiments is reconstructed, a contact model between the dynamic and static rings is proposed, and then the calculation methods for the interface characteristic parameters are provided. Numerical simulation results show that as the contact pressure increases from 0.05 to 0.5 MPa, the interface porosity and the maximum pore diameter decreases gradually. Furthermore, the fractal dimension of the pore area increases and the leakage rate of the interface decreases from 0.48 to 0.33 mL/h. The proposed method provides a novel way of calculating the leakage rate of contact mechanical seals.
There are mainly two kinds of contact mechanics models for rough surfaces. One is based on the statistical characteristic parameters and depends on the measurement scale of rough surface topography. The other is based on the fractal parameters, which is independent of the measurement scale. However, most of the contact models for rough surfaces based on fractal theory use the size that is corresponding to the contact area of an asperity or the sample length as the base diameter of an asperity to describe the initial profile of asperities. As a result, the obtained deformation mechanism of asperities is not correct. To solve this problem, a new fractal characterization method for rough surfaces based on the fractal dimension [Formula: see text], fractal roughness [Formula: see text] and the highest asperity height is proposed, and then a fractal contact model independent of the measurement scale is established. The contact mechanism of asperities and variation trends of the real contact area and contact stiffness are discussed. When the contact pressure of the rough surface is less than its yield strength, its normal contact stiffness can be expressed as the first derivative of the contact pressure versus the normal compression, regardless of the deformation forms of asperities.
Microtransfer printing is a sophisticated technique for the heterogeneous integration of separately fabricated micro/nano-elements into functional systems by virtue of an elastomeric stamp. One important factor influencing the capability of this technique depends on the adhesion between the viscoelastic stamp and the transferred element. To provide theoretical guidance for the control of adhesion in the transfer printing process, a finite element model for the viscoelastic adhesive contact between a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp and a spherical transferred element was established, in which the adhesive interaction was modeled by the Lennard-Jones surface force law. Effects of the unloading velocity, preload, and thermodynamic work of adhesion on the adhesion strength, characterized by the pull-off force, were examined for a loading-dwelling-unloading history. Simulation results showed that the unloading path deviated from the loading path due to the viscoelastic property of the PDMS stamp. The pull-off force increased with the unloading velocity, and the increasing ratio was large at first and then became low. Furthermore, the influence of the preload on increasing the pull-off force was more significant under larger unloading velocity than that under smaller unloading velocity. In addition, the pull-off force increased remarkably with the thermodynamic work of adhesion at a fixed maximum approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.