Simulation of Room Temperature Vulcanized Gasket Failure at Engine T-Joints

Abstract

As the automobile industry is moving towards robust packaging, it becomes very important to understand all the unexplored sealing systems in the IC Engine, to come up with best vehicle experience for the customer. Typically, there is a configuration where the cam lobes try to push open the cam cover during the engine running condition, and RCM gasket is generally used to seal these joints. On the exhaust side of these engines, there will always be a T-Joint location which is an assembly junction of three or more components, often having dissimilar thermal properties. This location uses RCM gasket on one side of the junction which is closed with RTV seal next to it as a filler. This complex combination of 3-4 dissimilar components with 2 different seals at the T-Joint poses a challenge for effective sealing, to keep the vital fluids - oil / coolant from leaking out of the engine. In this paper, a methodology is discussed to simulate this kind of T-Joint sealing, under the application of thermal loading. CZM technique is used to model the interaction around the RTV seal to capture the right bond characteristic.

Keywords: Room Temperature Vulcanized Rubber (RTV), Rubber Coated Metal (RCM) Gasket, T-Joint Design, Engine Sealing, Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM), Ledge Space, Thermal Loading, Sealing Performance, Adhesive Sealant, Bond Strength