Are ferrofluidic seals used in spaceflight? Main applications? Human-rated?

Asked Oct 22 '19 at 10:22

Active Oct 22 '19 at 10:22

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Ferrofluid-sealed feedthroughs routinely operate in environments including ultra-high vacuum (below 10⁻⁸ mbar), temperatures over 1,000 °C, tens of thousands of RPM, and multiple-atmosphere pressures.

Are ferrofluidic seals used in spaceflight? If so:

What are the main applications
Are they used in human-rated applications, i.e. to seal an atmosphere being breathed by humans against loss to space?

asked Oct 22 '19 at 10:22

uhoh

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I know of none in shuttle, but difficult to prove a negative. – Organic Marble Oct 22 '19 at 12:53
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@OrganicMarble seems like all patents and scholarly articles post-date 1983. Seeing as shuttle was planned before 1981 and first launched in April 1981, I doubt that it would've been included in the design that late. Don't know how much the design evolved beyond STS-1 though. – Magic Octopus Urn Oct 22 '19 at 15:40
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@MagicOctopusUrn excellent point! – Organic Marble Oct 22 '19 at 15:41
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I'm extremely interested in this @uhoh if this isn't answered I'll make my first bounty in 2 days. – Magic Octopus Urn Oct 22 '19 at 20:47
The necessary permanet magnetic materials might be too heavy for spaceflight. – Uwe Oct 25 '19 at 10:34

Are ferrofluidic seals used in spaceflight? Main applications? Human-rated?

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