US 4,261,584 AGranted

Hermetic seal

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsKenneth P. Browne, Bernard T. Carr, Edward J. Romanski

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Abstract

A hermetic seal is provided between opposing surfaces of a two part housing containing highly permeable fluids. A three element seal, located between the surfaces to be sealed, consists of a spring metal C-ring having a ductile metal coating on at least the surfaces thereof which are to contact the surfaces to be sealed, and an organic material coating applied at least to the ductile metal coated surfaces which contact the surfaces to be sealed. Pressure is applied to the coated C-ring by the surfaces to be sealed causing the organic material to fill any microvoids or scratches in the sealing surfaces, and causing the ductile metal coating to fill the larger voids and discrepancies, thereby, forming an impermeable leakage barrier for the highly permeable fluids contained within the housing.

Claims10

Dependent claims

In a gas encapsulated electronic module having a two part housing enclosing a highly permeable gas, a hermetic seal comprising:

first and second opposing sealing surfaces on said housing;
a spring metal C-ring located between said first and second surfaces;
a ductile metal coating on said C-ring adjacent to said first and second surfaces;
an organic material coating applied to said ductile metal coating between said metal coating and said first and second surfaces;
means for applying pressure to said coated C-ring by said first and second surfaces, thereby causing said organic material to flow into and fill any micro voids or scratches in said sealing surfaces and causing said ductile metal coating to flow into and fill larger voids and discrepancies in said sealing surfaces to form an impermeable leakage barrier for said highly permeable gas contained within said housing.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.