Inflatable door seals for semiconductor equipment, vacuum furnaces, coating chambers and test chambers. Built to your groove, matched to any OEM profile, made in the USA.
A vacuum chamber door has the opposite problem of a pressure vessel: when the chamber pumps down, the atmosphere pushes the door inward, and the seal has to close every leak path around a perimeter that is rarely perfectly flat. An O-ring or compression gasket needs the door itself to supply even squeeze — workable on a small round port, but not on the large, hinged or sliding doors found on process chambers, furnaces and test chambers. An inflatable seal supplies its own sealing force. It sits retracted in its groove while the door travels, then inflates to fill the gap and press continuously against the door face, taking up misalignment, gap variation and wear on every cycle — without heavy clamps, dogs or precision-lapped surfaces.
Load locks, transfer and process chamber doors, and wet-process tank lids on semiconductor and thin-film deposition equipment. Clean compounds selected for the process environment — FKM where plasma byproducts, process chemistry or lower outgassing matter, silicone where temperature range and conformity lead. Smooth, low-particulate construction suited to cleanroom service.
Vacuum furnace and oven doors, metallizing and coating chambers, thermal-vacuum and space-simulation test chambers for aerospace, altitude and leak-test chambers, vacuum dryers, and glove boxes and isolators. High-temperature silicone or EPDM to suit the process, fabric-reinforced where a wide door gap or dimensional control calls for it.
Every seal is engineered to the chamber it goes in. The ranges below are the envelope DRI builds to; the exact material, profile and working pressure are set from your door gap, groove and process.
| Semiconductor & Process Equipment | Industrial & Research Chambers | |
|---|---|---|
| Service temperature | To +450°F (silicone); FKM for process-chemical exposure | To +450°F (silicone); to +300°F (EPDM) |
| Seal inflation pressure | 15–45 psi (1–3 bar); differential across a vacuum door is at most one atmosphere | 15–45 psi (1–3 bar); fabric-reinforced for wide door gaps |
| Material | FKM or clean silicone; compound selected for outgassing and process exposure | High-temperature silicone; EPDM for general industrial service |
| Reinforcement | Typically non-reinforced for conformity on machined grooves | Kevlar, fiberglass or nylon fabric for gap and dimensional control |
| Configuration | Endless loop with molded corners; rectangular, round or D-shaped doors | Endless loop or spliced lengths; very large perimeters handled |
| Environment | Plasma byproducts, process gases, solvents, cleanroom handling | Thermal cycling, coating overspray, pump oils, test-chamber cold/heat |
Most vacuum seal orders are replacements for a seal that has taken a compression set, cracked with age, or started leaking at a corner or splice — showing up as longer pump-down times before it fails outright. The groove is already machined, so the new seal has to fit it. DRI works from any of three things:
See the seal profile library for the standard sections DRI starts from, and the non-reinforced and fabric-reinforced seal ranges for construction options.
When a chamber is pumped down, atmospheric pressure pushes the door inward against the seal. The inflatable seal sits retracted in its groove while the door moves, then inflates to fill the gap and press continuously against the door face, closing the leak path around the full perimeter without requiring a heavy clamping mechanism or perfect door alignment.
Most vacuum chamber door seals operate at 15 to 45 psi (1 to 3 bar) of air. The pressure differential across a vacuum door is at most one atmosphere, so the sealing load is modest; the working pressure is set by the door gap and groove geometry rather than by the vacuum level, and is specified as part of the design.
Material selection balances temperature, vacuum level and process exposure. Silicone offers the widest temperature range (continuous service from –65°F to +450°F) and excellent conformity. FKM is chosen where lower outgassing or exposure to plasma byproducts and process chemicals matters. EPDM serves general industrial vacuum chambers. The compound is selected to the chamber and process.
Yes, and it is the usual reason to switch. An O-ring needs the door itself to supply even compression, which large, hinged or sliding doors cannot do without heavy closures. An inflatable seal retracts clear of the door during travel, then inflates to supply its own sealing force, taking up gap variation and misalignment.
Yes. Send the OEM part number, a cross-section sketch, or a sample of the existing seal. DRI matches the profile so it fits the existing groove, and can improve the compound, splice or reinforcement where the original is failing.