INVESTIGATION OF ELASTOMER SEAL BEHAVIOR FOR TRANSPORT AND STORAGE PACKAGES

Rubbers are widely used as main sealing materials for containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and as additional component to metal seals in spent fuel and high active waste containers. According to appropriate guidelines and regulations safe enclosure of the radioactive container contents has to be guaranteed for long storage periods as well as down to temperatures of -40 °C for transportation. Therefore the understanding of seal behavior is of high importance. In this paper we focus on the behavior of elastomer seals at low temperatures with regard to potential decrease of leak-tightness. In addition, changes in material properties due to aging effects over long periods of time and their influence on the seal performance is investigated. It is known that material properties of rubbers are strongly temperature dependent. At low temperatures this is caused by the rubber-glass transition (abbr. glass transition). During continuous cooling, the material changes from rubber-like entropy-elastic to stiff energy-elastic behavior, that allows nearly no strain or retraction due to the glass transition. Hence rubbers are normally used above their glass transition but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely. Aging of elastomer seals is important, as possible dynamic loads may have to be considered during the whole interim storage period (so far approved in Germany for up to 40 years) and for transportation after storage. For the investigations, fluorocarbon (FKM) and ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) rubbers were selected as they are often used in radioactive waste containers. Some materials were purchased from a commercial seal producer and some materials were compounded and cured at BAM. The elastomers where studied by several thermo-analytical methods and compression set to characterize the material behavior at low temperatures. Additionally component tests were performed to determine the breakdown temperature of the sealing function of complete elastomer O-rings.