Back Up Rings

With a 22,000 square foot manufacturing and warehousing facility located in Houston, Texas, Buffalo Seal and Gasket Company specializes in custom and specialty flat gasket manufacturing and is a master distributor of O-Rings. In addition to having a wide range of O-Rings and O-Ring kits available, Buffalo Seal and Gasket offers a complete line of Back-up rings.

Back-up rings from Buffalo Seal and Gasket are available in a wide variety of sizes, in Buna 90 durometer and Viton® 90 durometer; we also stock Polytetrafluoroethylene solid Back-up rings (MS27595) and Polytetrafluoroethylene split Back-up rings (MS28774).

Back-up rings are used in dynamic and static sealing applications, in combination with the primary O-Ring. One of the primary purposes of a Back-up ring is to prevent the extrusion (expansion) of the O-Ring when the extrusion gaps are extreme, or when the O-Ring is subjected to excessive pressure. To that end, hard rubber Back-up rings manufactured from Nitrile and Viton® are ideal for resisting the extrusion of the O-Ring. For many applications – especially if the O-Ring or seal is exposed to high pressure from both sides – two Back-up rings should be employed, one on each side of the O-Ring or seal. Back-up rings are used in high-pressure liquid or gas environments, such as high-pressure valves, hydraulic cylinders, and high-pressure systems. Another benefit of using a combination of two Back-up rings with an O-Ring is that the mating components (valves, pipes, pump inlets, etc.) do not have to have very tight (costly) machining tolerances, just a normal tolerance – with the Back-up rings and O-Ring maintaining the seal – a huge cost savings. In other words, the components (pumps, valves, flanges, etc.) do not have to be machined to tight tolerances – the Back-up rings and O-Ring combination will provide the required seal. Besides being used in conjunction with O-Rings, Back-up rings can also be used with reciprocating shaft seals and lip seals.

For all your Back-up ring needs, contact the experts at Buffalo Seal and Gasket today for immediate assistance!