How does lubrication protect equipment?
author: Leila
2024-07-10
Lubrication is a common problem in equipment maintenance, but what exactly is lubrication? When it comes to lubrication, the scene that comes to our mind may just be to apply oil or grease to the mechanical friction surface to reduce friction. Although this concept is correct, it is only one aspect of lubrication.
Many substances can be used for lubrication. The most common ones are lubricating oil (liquid oil) and grease (usually paste at room temperature). Grease and lubricating oil are thicker because grease uses thickeners on the basis of lubricating oil. The oil used for lubrication can be mineral oil from petroleum, or it can be artificial chemical synthetic oil. Vegetable oil and animal oil can also be used as lubricants.
The lubricating oil and grease used now are mainly derived from petroleum or synthetic oil. The oil before adding additives and thickeners is called base oil, which is the main component of lubricating oil. The base oil itself has lubricity, but in order to optimize the overall performance of the base oil, we add some additives. Mineral oil can meet the requirements of ordinary industrial lubrication, so more than 90% of the current oil products are based on mineral oil. Synthetic oil has better performance, and the use of vegetable oil is mainly for environmental protection considerations.
Additives can optimize the performance of base oils, suppress undesirable properties, enhance favorable properties, and even give base oils some new properties. However, the more additives, the better, because additives are chemical substances, and various additives must be reasonably matched in type and proportion to achieve the desired effect. In addition, the number of additives must also be considered in the occasion of use. For example, the lubricant (motor oil) of automobile engines requires better cleaning and dispersing effects to remove carbon deposits and soot in the engine, and extreme pressure additives may be added to the lubricant used in heavy-duty machinery to increase anti-wear ability.
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