Mission critical seals in Aerospace applications

As the pace of innovation of flight systems continues to accelerate, Darcoid continues to offer the latest in seal material science, seal profile design, and a rigid focus on quality assurance.

Spaceship Launch - SpaceX - NASA Astronauts

On May 30th, 2020 SpaceX launched NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule … This launch marked the return of a human launch capability on a United States rocket and capsule. I want to thank you personally for your dedication and hard work during the last several years to make this accomplishment possible.

Aerospace

Urgent need?

If you’re reading this because you have a late-stage seal performance problem please contact us now to troubleshoot and find the best solution. Quickly.  We can ship prototype compression molded seals in two weeks, LSR molded parts in 4-6 weeks, and cut elastomer, plastics and foams/sponges in hours or days.  Stock seals ship the same day. 

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Common aerospace seal types, unrelenting performance requirements.

Seals in critical aerospace need to meet performance conditions that can change dramatically between takeoff or launch, high altitude or orbit, and return to landing.  They need to function at ambient temperature, elevated and subzero temperatures often within the course of minutes or hours.  Specialty material formulations and profiles are developed for fuel and coolant management, jet and rocket fuels, landing gear and flight control actuation hydraulics.  Seal types range from o-rings through fluid power seals, cassette seals, boots, bellows, and plate seals, and rubber/metal bonded configurations.

Aerospace Seals - Astronuat in Spaceship Capsule

Mission Critical Quality

Quality comes first with Darcoid.  Nothing moves without Quality’s approval.  Our team is driven to assure zero defects with control plans aligned to your quality process manual - We secured ISO 9001 registration in 2002 and we continue to innovate, most recently we certified to the IATF 16949:2016 standard. Darcoid works with ITAR and AS 9100 certified downstream suppliers.  We recognize specific QA and regulatory requirements for the aerospace industry applications including AS9100. If you’re at all uncertain of your current seal supplier’s commitment to quality take our quick 5 question survey to see where they stand.   

If you’re visiting this page because you are dealing with recurring quality escapes, please contact us and book time with our QA experts.  Our QA team has developed a wealth of seal quality expertise over the years.  We know where and how escapes can happen at every step of the manufacturing process and what controls need to be in place and verified. 

Airforce Jet - USA Navy

Choosing the very best seal for the job

Aerospace engineers have long understood the criticality of seals.  Program development periods are among the longest due to extensive qualifications and subsystems testing requirements.  Our technical team at Darcoid is driven to help you develop the best possible seal for your unique application.  It is not unusual for new seal material formulations to come on line during program development, or conversely elastomer formulations may be retired by seal OEMs before a program launches.  We have close technical relationships and stay up to date with latest material developments or retirements.  Engage with a Darcoid applications engineer - we’ll share the latest news so you can keep your legacy specs up-do-date.

Identifying and controlling “Performance Creep” for future builds.

A critical part of your program’s success is making sure the seal that gets assembled in your product 4 or 5 years from now performs the same as the seal you qualify for production release.  Aerospace seal specs are among the most precise of all industries, but small omissions or assumptions in your control specs can still create major headaches in the future.  Flow down requirements only work if they are comprehensively flowed down your supply chain.  We can help audit your specs from an outsider’s perspective and show where you may be risk-exposed or conversely, over spec’d.  Darcoid Applications Engineers will share some of the additional Seal Performance Creep mitigation steps we’ve developed so you can rest easy and focus on developing your next great thing! 

Advanced Specification Support

Seals on time – wherever in the world you’re assembling.

Our fulfillment and supply chain teams’ mantra is “wherever and whenever you need it, your shipment will be there”. We can tailor supply programs to meet your planning and procurement goals. Being easy to do business with is critical and everyone in our customer experience team is motivated and empowered to align with your business model to make that happen. 

Why Darcoid?

Darcoid has been in business for 75 years and over that time we have come to recognize one simple truth: The performance of your product is directly related to the quality and reliability of the seal. With those words in mind we continue to innovate and collaborate with customers whose products change the world for the better. To deliver meaningful and measurable value to your entire organization we have built and deployed the powerful Next Level^® strategy - by deliberately integrating with your teams in quality, seal technology, fulfillment services and growth strategy. True Partnership, measured, managed. 

We’re looking forward to earning your trust and becoming your go-to seal solutions provider. 

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build.

You need to get your best product designed, validated, specified, ramped and released. We’ve got your back, from concept through zero defect supply programs. It starts with understanding what you need the seal to do. We’re ready to get started.

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