The effect of anisotropy on the percolation threshold of sealing surfaces

The percolation threshold strongly affects sealing performance. This paper investigates the relationship between the percolation threshold and the rough surface anisotropy, which is represented by the Peklenik number, γ. A series of anisotropic rough surfaces were generated and the conjugate gradient-fast Fourier transform (CG-FFT) method was used to determine the percolation threshold. The percolation threshold was found to be A/A₀≈0.484±0.009 (averaged over 45 surfaces) was established for an isotropic rough surface (γ=1). Furthermore, it was also found that the percolation threshold decreased from A/A₀≈0.528±0.011 to A/A₀≈0.431±0.008 as 1/γ increased from 0.6 to 2. Our results differ from the theoretical result of Persson et al., where A/A₀=γ/(1+γ). Comparing our calculated results with the theoretical results established the presence of an intersection value of 1/γ that was related to the effect of elastic deformation on the percolation threshold. When 1/γ was smaller than the intersection value, our calculated results were lower than the theoretical ones; and when 1/γ was greater than the intersection value, our calculated results were higher than the theoretical ones.