A Novel Approach to Grease Selection and Consolidation - An investigation into the use of the Leon-Maxwell Equation for grease selection

摘要

There has been a concerted effort to select the best performing lubricating grease while minimizing the number of greases used in a facility. Engineering and maintenance teams are in search of one grease to take the place of several that are being used. Proper lubricant selection requires knowledge of operating conditions, bearing failure sources and performance standards. The Leon-Maxwell grease performance equation was developed to provide a concise approach that takes into consideration the performance standards that address operating conditions and failure sources. The Leon-Maxwell equation establishes a single numeric value for selection and a consolidation purpose for most operating conditions. There are three components of a grease - the base oil, the thickener, and performance additives. Traditionally, the base oil was considered the major component. In many conventional greases it can be found to be 70% to 95% of the grease. Because of this reason, many bearing manufacturers consider the base oil viscosity to be a predominant factor in grease selection and approval for their products. The fact remains that, with recent technological developments in the two other components (thickeners and performance additives), the base oil becomes less of a determining factor and more of a component of synergistic effect of the three.