THE MAJOR LIMITING RELIABILITY COMPONENT OF CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS HAS ALWAYS BEEN SEALS.

THE MAJOR LIMITING RELIABILITY COMPONENT OF CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS HAS ALWAYS BEEN SEALS. BESIDES CONTRIBUTING TO GAS CONTAMINATION AND DEBRIS PARTICLE ACCUMULATION, SEALS HAVE PHYSICALLY FAILED; AS A RESULT, SEALS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MAJORITY OF FAILURES OCCURRING IN CRYOGENIC LIQUIFICATION AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS. A POTENTIALLY VIABLE SOLUTION IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-LIFE CRYOGENIC SEALS EMPLOYING HARD-ON-HARD WEAR RESISTANT MATERIALS COMBINATION, I.E., AN UNFABRICATED HARD MATERIAL SEALING AGAINST ANOTHER HARD MATERIAL WITH MINIMAL ENSURING WEAR. THEIR APPROACH HAS BEEN UTILIZED BEFORE FOR SEALS ON MACHINERY OPERATING IN BOTH ABRASIVE AND EXTREME TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS. THE PHASE I PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A SEAL CONFIGURATION PROMISING 30,000 HOURS MTBF AND SUITABLE FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT DURING PHASE II. DIVIDED INTO FOUR TASKS, PHASE I INCLUDES AMBIENT AND CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURE WEAR AND FRICTION TESTING OF CANDIDATE HARD MATERIALS AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF AT LEAST FOUR PROPOSED SEAL CONFIGURATIONS. THEANTICIPATED RESULTS ARE THE SELECTION OF SEVERAL CANDIDATE CERAMIC-LIKE HARD MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR CRYOGENIC SEAL APPLICATIONS, MEASUREMENT OF THE WEAR AND FRICTION COEFFICIENTS AT AMBIENT AND CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES FOR SEVERAL HARD MATERIALS, INCLUDING CERAMICS, CERMETS, AND INTERMETALLICS, AND THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SEVERAL CANDIDATE LONG-LIFE CRYOGENIC SEALS.