bvanant
Contributor
In a recent post there was lots of discussion about what kinds of grease to use on what kinds of o-rings. My take on all this is that in spite of the opacity that manufacturer's use to hide their materials from the users there are only a few combinations of things that we need to think about. Most o-rings are made either from buna-n (nitrile) or silicone rubber (polydimethylsilane). Most buna-n o-rings are black but they can be in other colors. Most silicone rubber o-rings are not black but they might be. O-ring greases come in three main flavors, silicone grease, fluorosilicone grease and non-silicone types like Christolube and Tribolube.
Buna-n o-rings are compatible with all of these types of greases. You can use silicone grease, fluorosilicone grease or one of the Christo/Tribo Lube greases with no problems.
Silicone o-rings on the other hand may swell significantly if you use a silicone grease but they work fine with fluorosilicone greases and the Lubes.
This is kind of like blood groups. Fluorosilicone grease (molykote and S&S blue cap) and the Lubes are universal donors, they can be used on both Buna-n and silicone o-rings. Buna-n is a universal acceptor (except for vaseline type mineral greases) since it can be used with any of the common o-ring greases.
For more compatibility data go to
http://www.parker.com/literature/ORD 5700 Parker_O-Ring_Handbook.pdf
for some data (lots of data).
Bill
Buna-n o-rings are compatible with all of these types of greases. You can use silicone grease, fluorosilicone grease or one of the Christo/Tribo Lube greases with no problems.
Silicone o-rings on the other hand may swell significantly if you use a silicone grease but they work fine with fluorosilicone greases and the Lubes.
This is kind of like blood groups. Fluorosilicone grease (molykote and S&S blue cap) and the Lubes are universal donors, they can be used on both Buna-n and silicone o-rings. Buna-n is a universal acceptor (except for vaseline type mineral greases) since it can be used with any of the common o-ring greases.
For more compatibility data go to
http://www.parker.com/literature/ORD 5700 Parker_O-Ring_Handbook.pdf
for some data (lots of data).
Bill