Closing of Surface Flaws Under Compressive Loading

Abstract

The plane elastic deformation of a notched half-plane which is compressed by a flat rigid surface is investigated. The stress and displacement fields of this notched halfplane are felt to be representative of the conditions occurring in the neighborhood of a flaw on the surface of a compressed circular O-ring. O-rings are often installed as environmental seals in electronic components, and the results of this analysis indicate that minor surface flaws do not threaten the integrity of O-ring seals under normal installation conditions. Compressing the O-ring reduces the notch surface opening and pushes the notch surface toward the rigid compressing plate. Both of these effects reduce the notch void volume and the possibility of seal leakage.