Investigated Leak Rates of AS5202 Port K-Port Seals Utilizing Helium Mass Spectrometry

AS5202 port seals provide sealing for a wide range of fluids in which a significant amount are liquids with some in the gaseous phase. The amount of compression of a standard seal geometry (O-ring, C-ring etc.) can often be attributed to its ability to create a seal up to a critical value of displacement. This relationship has been well tested within the respective metallic seal families except for k-port seals. This study aims to test this relationship of compression to leak rate within the k-port seal family to further the understanding of how these seals behave in different operational environments. K-port seals of -04 and -16 sizes and in various base material and coating combinations were compressed to different values and were tested using helium mass spectrometry and gaseous ultra-high purity helium. The seals were then imaged post testing to characterize the seal tracks created by each compression test. It was shown that most of the k-port seal configurations exhibit far better leak performance than recommendations within available AS5202 port standard guidance and existing metallic k-port seal guidance.