Tribological Properties of Hydraulic Cylinder Piston Sealings in Water and Oil Hydraulics

Abstract

Hydraulics is indispensable in everyday life because of its ability to work with large forces. Hydraulic cylinders are an important hydraulic element and contain different types of seals. This work presents an investigation of the influence of three different shapes and materials of piston seals in a hydraulic cylinder on the friction force. The friction was tested in two hydraulic fluids, water and mineral oil, at six different piston rod travel speeds on a test rig prepared for this purpose. It was found that the proportion of the friction force in mineral oil is between 60 % and 85 % of the friction force generated by the same piston seal in water. However, a long-term test carried out on a test rig provided data on the leakage of the piston seal before the start of the long-term test, after 50 km of travel, and after 100 km of travel of the piston rod at full load.