Coated O-ring

摘要

The invention relates to a coated O-ring (200) for forming a seal, the core (201) of the O-ring comprising a polymer and/or synthetic rubber, characterized in that the coating (202 a ) comprises an anorganic coating (more specifically a metal-oxide such as Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 or TiO) with a thickness between 10 nm and 1 µm, more specifically between 20 nm and 100 nm, most specifically between 20 nm and 50 nm, resulting in an O-ring that shows a lower permeation than an uncoated O-ring and where the coating shows little or no cracking when the local curvature of the O-ring in any direction is changed by 20%. The coating is preferably applied by Atomic Layer Deposition, but also other deposition techniques such as (PE)CVD , E-beam evaporation, and reactive evaporation may be used. A preferred embodiment consists of an O-ring with a coating (202 a ) of Al 2 O 3 , itself covered with a layer (202 b ) of SiO 2 , said layer protecting the Al 2 O 3 layer from corrosion and plugging holes in the Al 2 O 3 coating, left over after the ALD deposition. A further elastomer layer (203) may cover the one or more coating layers (202 a , 202 b ) for further mechanical and/or chemical protection.