Why is lubrication important

Another form of lubricant, grease, is made by combining a base oil with a thickening agent. It serves many purposes, but the ultimate goal of a lubricant is to reduce unwanted friction the resistance encountered when solid surfaces slide against each other.

This friction reduction is accomplished by separating two solid surfaces with a thin layer of lubricant. Friction, unabated, can cause many problems for machinery. Every metal surface within a machine, no matter how finely finished, will have some degree of roughness, with high points called asperities. As the surfaces move past each other, these asperities come into contact and catch on one another. As the asperities catch and move, they rip each other apart, causing abrasions and adhesion, and in some scenarios, they can even weld and seize together.

Additionally, friction produces heat which, if unchecked, can quickly degrade the lubricant and cause catastrophic machine failure. As stated above, there are three types of base oils used in a lubricant: mineral, vegetable, and synthetic. In reality, lubricants are substances which play a major role in bearing and machinery function and longevity by:. To ensure optimum lubrication, it is important to use the right type and quality of lubricant, in the right amounts, at the right place and at the right time.

Once lubrication has been applied, the equipment and the lubricant should be tested to see if:. There are two methods of grease lubrication. Devices with numerous grease inlets sometimes employ the centralized lubricating method, in which the inlets are connected via piping and supplied with grease collectively.

In general, grease should fill approximately one-third to one-half the inside space, though this varies according to structure and inside space of housing. It must be borne in mind that excessive grease will generate heat when churned, and will consequently alter, deteriorate, or soften.

When the bearing is operated at low speed, however, the inside space is sometimes filled with grease to two-thirds to full, in order to. Whichever method may be utilized, care should be taken to use clean grease and to keep dirt or other foreign matter out of the housing. In addition, it is desirable to refill with grease of the same brand as that filled at the start. When grease is refilled, new grease must be injected inside bearing.

In the example, the inside of the housing is divided by grease sectors. Grease fills one sector, then flows into the bearing. On the other hand, grease flowing back from the inside is forced out of the bearing by the centrifugal force of the grease valve. When the grease valve is not used, it is necessary to enlarge the housing space on the discharge side to store old grease. Nevertheless, it is important to note that operator intervention is increasingly reduced thanks to improvements in the packaging equipment design.

In fact, the majority of our machines are now delivered with an automatic lubrication system to keep the internal mechanisms of the machine well lubricated. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.