The performance of liquid film seals is significantly affected by non-Newtonian behavior of lubricating fluids at seal interface. A mathematical model of spiral groove non-Newtonian liquid film seal was established by combination of mass conservation at JFO cavitation boundary condition and power law model of non-Newtonian fluids. The governing equation was discretized by finite difference method and solved by SOR iterative algorithm to obtain liquid film pressure distribution. The effects of non-Newtonian fluids on sealing performance were analyzed

including load-carrying capacity

leakage

friction torque

and cavitation occurrence in liquid film. The results indicate that with the increase of power law index

the load-carrying capacity first increases then decreases but the leakage and cavitation rate always increase and the friction torque consistently decreases. At power law index n=0.96

non-Newtonian fluids had increase by 4.6% in the load-carrying capacity and 0.3% in the friction torque but decrease by 98.6% in the cavitation rate of sealing face and 5.8% in leakage than Newtonian fluids. When operating parameters were changed

non-Newtonian fluids with various power law indices showed similar trending behavior of liquid film hydrodynamic performance. Suitable lubricant selection is important to improve sealing performance of liquid films.