Determining the Effectiveness of Oleophobic Gaskets

Project Overview

Cummins Inc. has proposed a project to determine the effectiveness of oleophobic gaskets to reduce the measured leak rate at low pressure, large joints on engines compared to the current gaskets used on engines. Oleophobic items are items which repel oil by having a lower surface energy than the oil. A gasket is an item which is placed between two flanges to form a seal, which is meant to prevent oils from leaking to the opposite side of the flange. The theory behind the project is that if the gasket can repel the oil, it is less likely that oil will be capable of leaking past the gasket.

In order to determine the effectiveness of oleophobic gaskets, the design team needs to determine what products on the market can be used to give a gasket oleophobic properties, create oleophobic gaskets using these products and nontraditional gasket materials, as well as design and build a test rig which measures the leak rate of a gasket at various temperatures and pressures. Once the design and construction of the project is complete, tests will be performed on oleophobic and standard gaskets using the test rig and results will be compared to determine the effectiveness. The test rig must be capable of testing oils that range from 22 to 120° Celsius and inducing a pressure on the oil ranging from 0 to 2.5 psi.