Coated o-ring

Abstract

The invention relates to a coated O-ring (200) for forming a seal, the core (201) of the O-ring comprising a polymer and/or synthetic rubber, characterized in that the coating (202a) comprises an anorganic coating (more specifically a metal-oxide such as Al2O3, SiO2 or TiO) with a thickness between 10 nm and 1 μm, more specifically between 20 nm and 100 nm, most specifically between 20 nm and 50 nm, resulting in an O-ring that shows a lower permeation than an uncoated O-ring and where the coating shows little or no cracking when the local curvature of the O-ring in any direction is changed by 20%. The coating is preferably applied by Atomic Layer Deposition, but also other deposition techniques such as (PE)CVD, E-beam evaporation, and reactive evaporation may be used. A preferred embodiment consists of an O-ring with a coating (202a) of Al2O3, itself covered with a layer (202b) of SiO2, said layer protecting the Al2O3 layer from corrosion and plugging holes in the Al2O3 coating, left over after the ALD deposition. A further elastomer layer (203) may cover the one or more coating layers (202a, 202b) for further mechanical and/or chemical protection.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.