Comparative study of the sealing mechanism and performance between magnetic fluid and magnetorheological fluid seals

Magnetic fluid and magnetorheological fluid are two of the most effective magnetic media seals, yet the sealing effectiveness of both has not been compared systematically. To investigate the differences between magnetic fluid and magnetorheological fluid seals, a comparative experimental device is proposed to study the sealing mechanism and performance of the two sealing media at different temperatures. Numerical simulation is used to study the magnetic field distribution of the comparative experimental device and calculate the theoretical pressure resistance (PR) of the two sealing media, respectively. The correctness of the theoretical PR formula of the magnetic media seals with additional temperature coefficient is verified by the comparative experimental results. The results show that the number of resumptions of the magnetorheological fluid film decreases with increasing temperature, while the magnetic fluid film consistently undergoes only one recovery. In addition, the self-healing capability and PR of magnetorheological fluid seals are better than that of magnetic fluid seals, and it is less affected by temperature and has stronger temperature adaptability.