Multiple materials and compounds are used to make oil seals. Some of the oldest materials still used today include felt and leather compounds. However, the trend in mass production has experienced a shift towards synthetic elastomers or rubber.

When the oil seal material and the chemical are not compatible, there will be a chemical attack, which increases at high temperatures. The only way to remedy this is to select the right material for your application. If you’ll be dealing with harsh chemicals, choose oil seals that are made with reliable materials for their compatibility.

Most standard oil seals have to comply with the DIN 3760 and ISO 6194 standards. Different standard types of oil seals are available that comply with these requirements.

What is an Oil Seal?

With minor lip


Type code

The seal shown in Fig. 14.2 is a relatively simple design; most automotive seals are more complex. Dust lips are often used to keep outside contaminants away from the oil lip seals; such seals thus have undercuts that make demolding more difficult. Fluoroelastomer compounds used for such undercut shapes must have reasonably high elongation at break at molding temperatures to avoid tearing the part during demolding. The metal insert is often U-shaped, and stock may be molded to form a thin layer over the outside of the insert. Since both compression and injection molding methods are used, suppliers of fluoroelastomers for shaft-seal applications often must provide different versions of the same polymer composition-medium to high viscosity for compression molding, and low to medium viscosity for injection molding. Different precompounds may be necessary to accommodate relatively long compression-molding times at low temperature and very short injection-molding times at high temperature.

Oil seal: how to install it correctly