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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
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for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Can Aluminum Shaft be Coated to Hard enough to Use an O-ring?
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I am working on a project that uses an aluminum shaft, which is going to be exposed to salt air and salt spray in a marine environment. I will have the shaft anodized to protect it from the elements and any wear from the nylatron bushing that supports it. Is there any way to increase the hardness of the shaft enough to be able to use an o-ring or lip seal to ensure no water spray enters the housing, or would it be best to press fit a sleeve of a more suitable material over the aluminum in the sealing area? I am using aluminum to keep the weight of this project to a minimum.
Rick PapineauHobbyist - North Providence, Rhode Island, USA
October 29, 2010
"O" Rings are commonly used with aluminum flanges in vacuum equipment. As long as the "O" rings are of some kind of rubber you may not need any additional treatment.
H.R. Prabhakara - ConsultantBangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India
Aluminum How-To"Chromating - Anodizing - Hardcoating"
by Robert Probert
Also available in Spanish
You'll love this book. Finishing.com has sold almost a thousand copies without a single return request :-)
A. Hi Rick.
'Hard Anodizing' or 'Hardcoating' of aluminum is an anodizing process which puts a thick, very hard, and very abrasion resistant coating on aluminum.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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