Understanding Lubricating Greases

 You can develop the perfect machine that delivers exactly the right performance at high speed and low cost, but if you fail to make the right choice of the lubricant, that perfect machine will die an early death. Properly specified and maintained, lubrication is the single most straightforward way for OEMs and end-users alike to ensure top performance and lifetime for a machine. All too often, however, lubrication gets pushed aside for other, seemingly more important tasks.

Lubrication is a process that aims at reducing friction between two moving pieces. When two surfaces come in contact with one another, the fluid must be injected to separate them. The word greasing applies when grease is used to lubricate.

Lubricating grease is a mixture of three main components: lubricating fluid, performance-enhancing additives, and thickener. The lubricating fluid can be petroleum-derived lubricating oil, any of various synthetic lubricating fluids, or vegetable-based oil. The lubricating fluid is usually the majority component in the grease formulation. 

The additives are typically present in relatively low concentrations and are added to the grease to provide an enhancement in one of the multiple performance areas. The thickener is what sets grease apart from liquid lubricants. This component gives the grease the property of consistency, making the product semi-solid rather than liquid. Many different chemical compounds can be used to thicken grease.

Getting the best performance and longest operating life out of grease requires careful attention to the specifications and monitoring your operations to make sure you stay within those specifications.

The process of choosing a lubricant must take into account the functional conditions of the lubricating mechanism and in particular the working temperature, the pressure force, the relative velocity, and the environmental conditions. Oil and grease manufacturers are the most qualified to determine which lubricant to use according to the mechanism to be lubricated.

Texol Lubritech is an experienced player in oil and petroleum products industry. They are one of the prominent industrial oil and grease manufacturers. Their products range includes high-performance Industrial & Automotive Lubricants and Greases, Transformer Oils, Rubber Process Oils, White Oils, Heavy & Light Liquid Paraffin as well as Petroleum Jelly. They are known for their lubes and greases in Dubai.