• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.182-188
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• 2016

A decoy is a weapon system that can protect vessels from an enemy's torpedo. Thus, the decoy should be able to operate in the field without any failure. Because the decoy can be inoperable once its sealing is broken and water permeates inside the system, the hermetic sealing capability considering the operational environment is mandatory. To be hermetically sealed, a rubber-type O-ring is generally used in a decoy system. The sealed performance of rubber-type products, however, tends to age and deteriorate with time. Therefore, the O-ring needs to be maintained or changed periodically. This paper proposes a method to estimate the proper maintenance period using the hardness and elongation percentage, which represents the performance of the O-ring product and test data from Accelerated Life Test (ALT) of the product. The O-ring used in this paper is a NBR type, and the temperature was chosen to be the main accelerating factor as referenced in many studies. The criteria for the failure of the O-ring was set for the product to be 50% degraded compared to the initial performance. In addition, the Korean standard KS M 6518 was adopted and referenced for the preparation of test samples and the calculation of estimates. The O-ring's predicted life was simulated by analyzing the test results from a computer program, and the optimized maintenance period for the product was determined.