Radioactive Material Package Seal Technology Experiments*

Preliminary experiments have been conducted to detennine the perfomanceof several classes of seal materials under conditions representative ofradioactive material package environments. Measurements of helitnn leakrates of seals in fixtures expcsed to various environments are used tocompare seal materials and seal geometries. In acklitioo 1 materialproperties of the seals are being measured to att.enpt. to correlatesealing perfonnance to specific material characteristics. Initialexperiments have focused oo tenperature effects on elastaneric O-rings.