WL Gore and Associates has introduced GORE Low Friction Film for dynamic seals. This tissue-thin flexible film, based on Gore’s proprietary ePTFE membrane technology, enables longer-wearing, lower-friction dynamic seals that can reduce torque and power consumption.
WL Gore and Associates
Gore introduces GORE Low Friction Film for dynamic seals
It now offers new design options in energy-critical applications such as thermal management, air conditioning, actuators, electric motors and gear shafts.
Andreas Sänger, Gore’s Market Development Associate for Automotive EMEA, said: “GORE Low Friction Film offers a new alternative to all these trade-offs. It creates a new category of low friction dynamic seals that can allow new design options in energy-critical automotive applications.”
GORE Low Friction Film can offer new options for automotive dynamic seal design, due to its unique combination of performance characteristics, including lower friction on the sealing surface for reduced torque and lower power consumption; greater wear-resistance for enhanced and more predictable seal life and part reliability; and excellent sealability, because it maintains levels of seal elasticity traditionally associated with pure elastomer.
The technology differs significantly from conventional PTFE rings or rigid, thin-layer skived PTFE.
Gore Product Manager Christian Wimmer added: “Our proprietary process creates a graphite-filled ePTFE with a unique micro-structure. The graphite significantly improves the film’s wear-resistance. And during moulding, the elastomer flows into the ePTFE micro-structure grid to create a permanent, inseparable bond.”
In addition, this thin, flexible film readily conforms to the most complex seal shapes — even an extreme example with two undercuts — and is easy to integrate in injection and compression moulding processes.