High-temperature seal increases productivity in semiconductor subfabs

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions launches its Isolast K-Fab seal designed to provide long-term sealing and increased productivity in high-temperature semiconductor subfab applications.

The Isolast K-Fab seal provides an alternative flange sealing solution to a traditional O-ring, to prevent premature failure in extreme temperatures and aggressive chemical environments.

Chris Busby, segment director at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, says: “The Isolast K-Fab seal is resistant to both extreme temperatures and the complex chemistries found in critical subfab environments that can be extremely destructive to the elastomer seals in flanges. The unique design includes a retained seal feature that ensures the seal is easy to retrofit into NW/KF/ISO vacuum fittings. Assembly of the flange is also made considerably easier by the design of the elastomer element that results in a puzzle-shaped connection to the flange insert. Overall, this contributes to significantly less unexpected downtime and lower cost of ownership.”

Formulated from perfluoroelastomer (FFKM), a custom seal geometry utilises significantly less rubber to eliminate overfill and extrusion, resulting in improved thermal properties, and elimination of thermal expansion and groove overfill. The seal geometry can withstand misalignment of the flange when compared to an O-ring, for easy assembly. This optimal seal design increases performance, especially with varying pressure or vacuum conditions for increased service life and overall lower cost of ownership.

The Isolast K-Fab seal is temperature resistant for use up to +325 °C / +617 °F dependent on the material selection. Flexible use of elastomer materials is intended to lower the overall cost of ownership by matching the material performance with application. Suitable for combination with both aluminium or stainless steel, the Isolast K-Fab flange seal can be manufactured from a range of elastomer materials including Isolast FFKM, Isolast PureFab FFKM for ultra-high purity, FKM and PureFab FKM.