Vaporization in Face Seals Operating with Liquid Mixtures

The problem of vaporization in face seals operating on mixtures where the minority liquid is discontinuous and has the lower boiling point is analyzed. A model based on several simplifications is presented and used to solve a numerical example for water-in-oil mixtures. It is shown that even the smallest amount (in the order of 1 %) of water in the oil may considerably alter the seal performance and result in seal failure.