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Based on the mechanical seal experiments, sealing performances of the mechanical face seals with the herringbone-grooves (HG) only and with composite textures of herringbone grooves and circular dimple textures (HGC) were investigated respectively. The reserve suction effect of HG observed in the experiments provided the evidence for the main inducing mechanism of zero leakage in liquid film sealing. The cavitation region of HGC decreases with the rotating speed, and the HG has the reserve effect. The HGC has lower friction torque and larger film thickness compared to HG, indicating better friction performance. Because of the circular dimples, the temperature difference in sealing rings is reduced and the corresponding thermal performance of the mechanical seal has been improved. • Compositing circular dimple textures in herringbone-grooved seals reduce the friction torque and improve the lubrication. • Composite circular dimple textures could inhibit cavitation development with increasing rotational speed. • Cavitation suction effect could achieve the zero-leakage of liquid film seal. • Temperature differences of stator reduced by compositing circular dimples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental research was conducted on mechanical seals with pressurized lubricated-oil, focusing on lubrication and leakage inhibition of herringbone-grooved face seals. Through the visualization experiments and axial displacement tests, this study evaluated the performance of the inner-diameter-side (IDS) and middle-diameter-side (MDS) herringbone grooved seals based on the measured cavitation region, leakage rate, friction torque, surface temperature of stator, and axial displacement of the primary ring. The experiment results show that, increasing the width of the seal dam can reduce the hydrodynamic effect and cavitation development of the liquid film but enhance the hydrostatic effect, maintain a small leakage range, the maximum leakage rate is less than 19 mL∙min−1. Zero-leakage can be achieved in MDS due to cavitation suction. The axial displacement curves indicate that the runout amplitude of IDS is smaller than that of MDS, the maximum axial displacement difference is about 25 µm, the stability of IDS is better than MDS. Comparisons of surface temperature and friction torque demonstrates that the lubrication of MDS is better than that of IDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]