Seals pass tough test

Autoclaves are widely used to sterilise equipment with high pressure saturated steam at temperatures of 121°C or more. These conditions can be maintained for 15 to 20 minutes, depending upon the size of the system load and the contents. Pressurised, high temperature steam is one of the most aggressive operating environments, and in between system loads, autoclaves are subject to continuous cleaning cycles at high pressure/temperature steam conditions.

The DuPont Kalrez 6230 perfluoroelastomer (FFKM) seals have been developed to meet such requirements, while providing excellent sealing qualities to comply with modern pharmaceutical processes. They are available from UK authorised distributor Dichtomatik, and reduce extractables to trace levels while providing steam cycling resistance to 260°C.

Where in-situ tests have been conducted with saturated steam at 4 bar pressure and 140°C temperature, the Kalrez 6230 seal parts performed well over a 4 month test duration of 8h/day and 5 days per week. At the end of the test period, the seals exhibited little or no cracks and only minor compression set when compared to competitive perfluoroelastomer (FFKM and FKM) materials.