ARS | Publication request: COMPOSITIONAL EFFECTS OF BIOBASED GREASES ON ITS OXIDATIVE STABILITY

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 15, 2004
Publication Date: October 10, 2004
Citation: Sharma, B.K., Adhvaryu, A., Perez, J.M., Erhan, S.Z. 2004. Compositional effects of biobased greases on its oxidative stability. Meeting Abstract.

Technical Abstract: Grease occupies 8% of the industrial lubricant market, and it corresponds to 18 million gallons of use yearly in the United States. It is a solid or semi-solid dispersion of a thickening agent in lubricant base oil. The biodegradable properties and lubricating ability of greases depends on both the base oil and the thickener. Mineral oils are the most widely used lubricant base fluids due to their inherent lubricity and low cost, but recent environmental awareness has forced to consider the use of biodegradable fluids such as vegetable base oils in grease formulations. From the environmental point of view the importance of vegetable oil-based greases is evident especially in loss lubrication, military applications, and in outdoor activities such as forestry, mining, railroads, dredging, fishing and agriculture hydraulic systems with increased risk of damage, etc. However, their use is restricted due to low thermo-oxidative and hydrolytic stability, but can be mitigated by additive technology and structural modifications. This study presents the data on tribological properties and thermo-oxidative stability of biodegradable greases formulated with soybean oil and different compositions of thickener. The composition of thickener has been varied by using fatty acids with different degrees of unsaturation and fatty acids of different chain lengths. The effect of changing the thickener to base oil ratio and additive concentration have also been evaluated.