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A lubricant is a substance that is applied on surfaces that have relative motion in between them. The lubricant reduces friction and wears between the surfaces. However, the lubricant can have other functions apart from these primary functions. Some of the other roles include serving as a:
There are various lubricants, with the most common ones being liquid, solid, and grease lubricants.
These are mainly produced from synthetic and petroleum fluids. Petroleum-based oils are economical due to the abundance of petroleum availability. Synthetic oils are more expensive, but the benefit from improved performance outweigh the cost in some applications. The dominant factor among liquid lubricants’ characteristics is their viscosity. The two main types of viscosity are dynamic and kinematic viscosity. Dynamic (Absolute) viscosity measures the fluid's internal resistance to flow, while kinematic is the ratio of the dynamic viscosity to the fluid's density. Kinematic viscosity can be expressed as centistokes (cSt). It measures how easily a fluid flows under gravity and is equivalent to 1 square millimeter per second (mm²/s) or 10⁻⁶ square meters per second (m²/s).
Solid lubricants are also known as dry film lubricants. They are natural graphite, synthetic, or molybdenum disulfide mixed with binders or applied to sliding surfaces. Solid lubricants are popular in applications where pressure or temperature extremes make liquid lubricants impractical. As an example, molybdenum disulfide is the preferred option in high-vacuum environments. This is contrary to graphite which would need water vapor to act as a lubricant under the said conditions. Molybdenum disulfide and graphite have low coefficients of friction plate-like laminar structure of their molecules. Therefore, their structure between plates is relatively weak.
Grease is made up of a base fluid, thickener and additives. Grease is used in numerous markets, including aerospace, automotive, industrial, food processing and others. Base fluids may be petroleum, vegetable, or synthetic. There are two types of thickening agents used in greases. These thickeners are defined as either soap or non-soap. Additives may be used to provide improve load, reduce wear, oxidation resistance, corrosion protection and other attributes.
According to the National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI), the grease consistency is rated from semifluid, i.e., 000 to very hard, i.e., 5, and block type, i.e., 6. This is based on the material penetration tests conducted in a worked state where standard objects are dropped into the grease at a given time and temperature. The depth at which the thing sinks is noted. As an example, grease-lubricated bearings have an NLGI 2 grade. Source: IQS Directory