Chapter 2

Lubricant Categories*

y way of introduction, a brief overview of the principal lubricant categories is

offered and illustrated in this chapter. Lubricants are divided into the following
groups

gaseous,
liquid,
cohesive, and
solid.

Among these, the gaseous lubricants are insignificant because construction costs
for gas or air lubrication equipment are very high. Typical applications and industry sectors are given in Table 2-1. A somewhat more condensed summary of lubricant types is
shown in Figure 2-1.
As would be logical to surmise, lubricants, in the global sense, should not only
reduce friction and wear, but also

dissipate heat,
protect surfaces,
conduct electricity,
keep out foreign particles, and
remove wear particles.
Different lubricants show different behavior regarding these requirements.

LIQUID LUBRICANTS
Liquid lubricants include

fatty oils,
mineral oils, and
synthetic oils.

Their typical properties are summarized in Table 2-2.

Source:

Klber Lubrication North America, Londonderry, New Hampshire

25

Copyright 2000 The Fairmont Press, Inc.

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Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities

Table 2-1. Typical applications and industry sectors for lubricants.

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Lubricant Categories

27

Figure 2-1. Types of lubricants summarized.

Table 2-2. Properties of typical base oils for industrial lubricants.

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Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities

The task of liquid lubricants is all-encompassing. It is to

dissipate heat,
protect surfaces,
conduct electricity, and
remove wear particles.

Fatty oils are not very efficient as lubricating oils. Even though their lubricity is
usually quite good, their resistance to temperatures and oxidation is poor. Mineral oils
are most frequently used as lubrication oils, but the importance of synthetic oils is constantly increasing. These oils offer the following advantages:

higher oxidation stability,

resistance to high and low temperatures,
long-term and lifetime lubrication.

Anticorrosion and release agents are special products which also fulfill lubrication
tasks.

COHESIVE LUBRICANTS
Cohesive lubricants include

lubricating greases,
lubricating pastes, and
lubricating waxes.
Their task is to

protect surfaces,
conduct electricity, and
keep out foreign particles.

Lubricating waxes are based on hydrocarbons of high molecular weight and are
preferably used for boundary or partial lubrication at low speeds.
Lubricating greases are based on a base oil and a thickener imparting to them their
cohesive structure. They can be used for elasto-hydrodynamic, boundary or partial
lubrication.
Lubricating pastes contain a high percentage of solid lubricants. They are used in
the case of boundary and partial lubrication, especially for clearance, transition and
press fits. Cohesive lubricants are used when the lubricant should not flow off, because
there is no adequate sealing and/or when resistance against liquids is required. These
lubricant types play an increasingly important role, since it is possible to achieve longterm or lifetime lubrication with minimum quantities.

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Lubricant Categories

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SOLID LUBRICANTS
Solid lubricants include

tribo-system materials,
tribo-system coatings, and
dry lubricants for tribosystems.
Their main task is to

protect surfaces.

Solid lubricants also include synthetic, metallic or mineral powders, such as PTFE,
copper, graphite and MoS2. As powders are difficult to apply, they are mostly used as
additives. Solid lubricants are normally used as dry lubricants operating under boundary lubrication conditions. If liquid or cohesive lubricants are incorporated in the tribosystem materials there can even be partial lubrication.
Solid lubricants are mainly used when the application of liquid or cohesive lubricants is not ideal for functional reasons or risk of contamination and when, at the same
time, the lubrication properties of solid lubricants are sufficient.

LUBRICATING OILS
Lubricating oils consist of a base oil and additives which determine their performance characteristics. The base oil is responsible for the typical properties of an
oil. The additives, however, determine its actual performance by influencing the base
oils

oxidation stability,
anticorrosion properties,
wear protection,
emergency lubrication properties,
wetting behavior,
emulsibility,
stick-slip behavior,
viscosity-temperature behavior.

The advantages of a lubricating oil as compared to a grease are improved heat dissipation from the friction point, and its excellent penetrating and wetting properties.
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, its main disadvantage is that a complex
design is required to keep the oil at the friction point and prevent the danger of
leakage.
Lubricating oils are used in a wide variety of elements and components, such as

sliding bearings,

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Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities

chains,
gears,
hydraulic systems,
pneumatic systems.

In addition to counteracting friction and wear, lubricating oils have other requirements to fulfill in various applications, e.g.,

corrosion protection,
neutrality to the applied materials,
meet food regulations,
resistance to temperatures,
biodegradability.
Lubricating oils are applied in other primary or secondary applications as:

running-in oils,
slideway oils,
hydraulic oils,
instrument oils,
compressor oils,
heat carrier oils.

The main tasks, however, remain lubrication and protection against friction and
wear.

TRIBOTECHNICAL DATA
Tribotechnical data are characteristics of mineral oils. These data are shown in
Table 2-3. Within the framework of the intended application, they permit the selection
of a lubricant suitable for the pertinent requirements (temperature, load and/or speed).
In this regard, the viscosity grade selection (Table 2-4) is of primary importance.

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Table 2-3. Tribotechnical data pertaining to lubricating oils.

Table 2-4. ISO viscosity grades of fluid industrial lubricants.

Copyright 2000 The Fairmont Press, Inc.