Industrial Lubricants

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FAQ

What are industrial lubricants?

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:

• Sealing agent
• Heat transfer agent
• Corrosion preventative agent
• An agent for trapping and expelling mechanical systems contaminants

The lubricants can be found in many forms, varying from liquid, semisolids, dry and gas lubricants, etc. The most common lubricants are oils and gases. Mechanical systems need to consider a balance between reducing friction and wear by a lubricant and its secondary functions. There are set recommendations from manufacturers which are critical to follow as they enhance optimum performance.

 

What are the different types of industrial lubricants?

There are various lubricants, with the most common ones being liquid, solid, and grease lubricants.

Liquid 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. There are two main types which are dynamic and absolute viscosity. The typical units of measurement are lb-sec/ft2. Viscosity is defined as the velocity gradient between moving and stationary parts of a fluid. The kinematic viscosity is the dynamic viscosity divided by the lubricant density. Kinematic viscosity can be expressed as Saybolt Seconds Universal (SSU). The SSU is a number assigned to a lubricant after it runs under Newtonian flow conditions through a capillary-tube viscometer. The centipoise is the standard unit of dynamic velocity used in the cgs system. However, viscosity can be affected by shear, temperature, and high pressure.

Solid Lubricants

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

Industrial grease is made up of a liquid lubricant combined with a thickener. This thickener is typically soap combined with additives that help with other characteristics such as tackiness and corrosion resistance. The grease usually liquefies at the temperature's dropping point, between 200 to 500°F. However, this can even be higher, depending on the thickening agent. For example, greases that are thickened lime or calcium soaps have lower dropping points while those that are clay thickened liquefy at higher temperatures.

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