A importância dos retentores de óleo na indústria siderúrgica

The importance of oil seals in the steel industry

From heat to water to chemicals and extremely abrasive contamination, the steel industry offers some of the harshest environments that can threaten bearing life. The question is: “How can we reduce the effects of these factors?” Simply put, with proper bearing seals.

Roller bearings offer an all-metal gap seal, which is great for combating excessive heat, but not as effective when dealing with moisture, chemical attack and highly abrasive contamination associated with steel manufacturing and coating processes.

For temperatures below 225 or F, a Buna rubber spring lip seal works well, but as we all know, you often deal with temperatures closer to 400 or F. To handle these extreme temperatures, our line of roller bearings features a Viton lip seal with rubber spring as standard option.

Viton can run up to 400 or F and is excellent at resisting the chemical attack associated with pickling and coating steel. Pickling and coating processes often use acidic solutions to clean steel, which can boil over or splash onto bearings and drastically limit bearing life. So why not choose a bearing that offers Viton sealing (roller bearing or Link-Belt ball bearing) to increase the overall performance of your application?

Now, a Viton gasket is a great solution, but what if the gasket alone doesn't provide enough protection? The answer is auxiliary caps. These cast iron components are bolted to the bearing housing faces to provide a five-part sealing system to maximize bearing life (see sectional view below).

Section view

The first barrier (#1) is a V-ring that can be offered in Viton or Buna depending on the application. Next (#2) is a labyrinth seal and (#3) a large grease cavity which, when filled, provides an effective seal. The cast iron covers are screwed with a gasket (#4) to the housing. Finally, we come to the primary bearing seal (#5).

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