Ductile and Flexible Seal Rings

Milan-based ATO S.r.l. has introduced a series of flexible seal rings made of KetaSpire polyetheretherketone (PEEK) resin, which is made by Solvay Specialty Polymers. KetaSpire KT-820 PEEK provides greater flexibility and elasticity than competitive PEEK grades, the company says. The parts can be folded or twisted in half and then twisted again into three or four small concentric rings. Compression-molded seal rings made of KetaSpire PEEK can also be softer and easily machined. Flexible PEEK seal rings are manufactured via standard compression molding and with ATO’s specially designed Hot Compression Molding process, which produces highly elastic, high-performance semi-finished parts with 30% elongation—triple that of traditional compression molding. ATO manufactures compression-molded seals with diameters from 2.5 cm to 50 cm (1 inch to 20 inches) and thicknesses of 15 mm to 70 mm (0.6 inches to 2.8 inches). (http://www.atoitalia.com)