Industrial Lubricants

About Industrial Lubricants and Industrial Lubricant Manufacturers Including: Automotive Lubricants, Food Grade Lubricants, Lubricant, Lubricating Grease & Lubricating Oil.

Industrial lubricants are an essential part of the proper function and maintenance of machines and components which require lubrication. A lubricant is the agent used to reduce friction between two parts, but can also be used as a conductive agent to increase the flow of a current between parts. Industrial lubricant manufacturers often design products, which used to prevent corrosion and rust of a non-moving part. The two major categories of lubricant are those that are organic and those that are synthetic. Organic lubricants usually are derived and refined from petroleum, and synthetic are created via a process of chemical synthesis. Industrial lubricants are also used as part of a larger lubrication system which feeds a number of grease distribution lines to many lube points found throughout the machinery or system in need of lubricant.

Grease, oil and silicone and their various compounds create the majority of the industrial lubricants available and used in industries today. Biodegradable lubricant is becoming more and more preferred in such areas as the food service industry, where incidental contact with food is a reality. A secondary and more practical use of lubricant is the cleaning and filtering of unwanted particles away from areas, such as seals and gaskets. Industrial lubricant manufacturers are often niche specific and create a certain type of lubricant, such as automotive lubricants, but others are more wide ranging in the industries they serve.

The automotive industry uses a wide range of lubricants in the creation and daily function of their vehicles. Using oil for engine lubricity is only one of the many types of lubricant that can be used throughout an automobile. Food processing factories and manufacturers require a specific grade of lubricant in their machinery that will not contaminate the product being created if contacted by it. The metal fabrication industries use lubricant extensively in the creation of metal products and parts. Industrial lubricants provide an efficiency of movement that would otherwise not exist between such hard surfaces as metal.

The lubricants available by most manufacturers are divided into machine and device specific categories. Chain and rope, hydraulics, gears and bearings are some of the ways in which companies make the purchasing of the proper lubricant easier for the shop manager and broader consumers. Working out a long term supply contract with the manufacturer or supplier may be a more economical choice. Understanding the nature of lubricant and your machines lubrication system needs is what many of these manufacturers help the customer identify and maintain. Many industrial lubricant manufacturers offer programs and incentives for the reuse and recycling of the lubricants.

Industrial Lubricants and Industrial Lubricant Manufacturers Images Provided by Krylon Products Group

Industrial Lubricants Image Provided by HUSKEY Specialty Lubricants

Types of Industrial Lubricants

• Automotive lubricants are oil and grease based but also can have synthetic properties. Automotive lubricants are used in a car's transmission, engine, and on seals gears and chassis points.
  
• Biodegradable lubricants are derived from plant or animal based sources and are used often in conjunction with agricultural implementations.
  
• Compounded lubricant is mineral oil with vegetable, animal or chemical lubricating oils added to enhance certain physical or chemical properties of the finished blend.
  
• Compressor lubricants are used in a compressor, a device which converts mechanical force and motion into pneumatic fluid power.
  
• Conductive lubricants lubricate and improve electrical and thermal connections between sliding surfaces, while providing protection from moisture and corrosion.
  
• Dry film lubricants consist of no liquid between the parts to be lubricated. They are made of silicone or a related compound and used in areas where oil or grease is not recommended.
  
• Food grade lubricants are formulated, extreme-pressure synthetic lubricants developed for use in industrial machinery where incidental food contact from lubricants may occur.
  
• Grease lubricants are lubricants composed of oil or oils thickened with a soap, soaps or other thickener until a semisolid or solid consistency is formed.
  
• Lubricant is applied to moving parts to prevent wear from friction.
  
• Lubricating grease is a combination of oil and soap used for lubrication applications.
  
• Lubricating oil is oil used to lubricate parts and prevent friction.
  
• Stamping lubricants are lubricants which are used during the metal stamping fabrication process. These can range from synthetic to straight oil with the latter needing much more aggressive clean-up.
  
• Synthetic lubricants are lubricants produced by chemical synthesis rather than by extraction or refinement of petroleum in order to produce a compound with planned and predictable properties.

Industrial Lubricant Terms

Abrasive Wear – Also referred to as "cutting wear." This occurs when hard surface asperities or hard particles have embedded themselves into a soft surface.

Adhesion – The force or forces causing two materials, such as a lubricating grease and a metal, to stick together.

Base – A refined mineral oil, free of additives, used as a component in a lubricant blend.

Bleeding – The separation of oil from a grease structure. A certain amount of bleeding is considered desirable in greases, since this tends to provide continuous oil lubrication to bearings.

Emulsion – A liquid in which another immiscible liquid is suspended. Water and oil can be emulsified under certain conditions of oil type and severe agitation. Emulsifying agents are sometimes added to oils for production of cutting fluids, which are to be mixed with water.

Fiber – In lubricating grease, the form in which soap thickeners occur, the soaps crystallizing in threads, which are of the order of 20 or more times as long as they are thick.

Friction – A resistance to motion between two surfaces in contact.

Influent – The fluid entering a component.

Injector – A positive displacement (oil or grease) lubricant measuring valve that dispenses lubricant when main line pressure rises and resets when its compressed return spring forces the measuring piston back to its rest position.

Lubricant – Any substance used to separate two surfaces in motion and reduce the friction or wear of the surfaces.

Miscible – Liquids capable of forming a liquid solution or uniform mixture between themselves, e.g. gasoline and oil are miscible.

NLGI Grade Number – Numbers assigned by the NLGI to classify greases according to their hardness as measured by a cone penetration test.

Monitor – An electrical or electronic device that compares (monitors) a lubrication systems operation to a user selected time frame, or delivery rate.

Oil – A general term for a water-insoluble thick liquid that possesses lubricating properties.

Petroleum – Term applicable to crude oil and the hydrocarbon products and materials that are derived from it.

Pumpability – The ability of a lubricating grease to flow under pressure through the line, nozzle and fitting of a grease dispensing system at varying temperatures.

Syneresis – Loss of liquid lubricant from a lubricating grease due to shrinkage or rearrangement of the structure.

Viscosity – The measurement of a fluid's resistance to flow. It is defined as the shear stress on a fluid element divided by the rate of shear; “high viscosity” applies to a fluid which does not flow easily, “low viscosity” to a fluid, such as water, which flows easily.