ARS | Publication request: Vegetable oil based grease formulations

Submitted to: United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: September 20, 2006
Publication Date: October 21, 2006
Citation: Erhan, S.Z., Sharma, B.K. 2006. Vegetable oil based grease formulations. In: Proceedings of the United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, October 21-28, 2006, San Francisco, CA. p. 1-9.

Technical Abstract: Environmental concerns have brought forward vegetable oils as alternatives to more expensive synthetic lubricant base oils and less environmental friendly petroleum base stocks, in moderate operating conditions. Vegetable oils are becoming an obvious choice for potential replacement of petroleum base oils in grease formulations. This work focuses on the development of vegetable oil-based lithium greases. The work involves preparation methods, optimization of thickener components, and antioxidant additive for making vegetable oil-based lithium grease. Vegetable oil based greases with Li-fatty acid thickener having C12 to C18 chain lengths and different metal to fatty acid ratios were synthesized. Results indicate that Li-thickener composition, fatty acid types and base oil content significantly affect grease hardness and oxidation stability. It has also been observed that the physical and chemical properties of grease are largely based on the soap thickener fiber micro-structure studied using transmission electron microscopy. The vegetable oil based greases show excellent anti wear/friction and oxidation properties.