A wide variety of processing equipment in the food and pharmaceutical industries use seals like any other manufacturing equipment. O-rings are one such type of mechanical seals that are used by food manufacturing industries. The O-ring is placed in a groove between two surfaces, and they undergo compression during the assembly, thereby creating a reliable sealing surface. These seals are required to withstand corrosion, speed, abrasion, as well as meet FDA standards. What are FDA-grade materials? What are different material constructions for FDA O-rings? This post answers all these questions by discussing 4 most popular FDA-grade O-ring materials.
O-rings
Introduction to FDA-grade Materials
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a wide range of rubber and plastic compounds for use in medical and food processing plants. In short, FDA approval for a particular compound or material used for building an O-ring suggest that it can easily withstand potential risks in sensitive food processing, and pharmaceutical applications.
There are various FDA-grade materials in use today, and they vary from each other in terms of properties. The following are a few common beneficial properties that make these materials popular over their non-FDA grade compounds.
All FDA-grade materials should belong to the FDA-white list, which is mentioned in the Code of Federal Regulations (title 21).
4 Popular FDA-grade Materials for Food Industry O-Rings
The following are the 4 important types of FDA-grade materials used for building O-rings:
Temp. Range: -40°F to +230°F / -40°C to +110°C
Temp. Range: -25°F to +220°F / -32°C to +104°C
Temp. Range: -67°F to 450°F/ -55° C to 232° C
Temp. Range: -15°F to +400°/440°F/ -26°C to +205°/230°C
All the above-mentioned FDA O-rings are designed to meet requirements of food and pharmaceutical industries. It is very important to purchase these rings from a reputed manufacturer who understands FDA regulations, as well as your special application requirements. SSP Manufacturing, Inc. has experience spanning over 2 decades in manufacturing and supplying FDA-grade O-rings and other sealing solutions.
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