"Lubricants for plastic components"
The use of plastics in various industrial components continues to raise important reflections on the possible impoverishment of the structural properties of plastics due to the combined action of lubricant and mechanical-dynamic stress.
The destructive effects of the wrong plastic lubricant on your component can be immediate or, even worse, manifest after prolonged chemical action combined with mechanical stress, which means copious and almost always irreparable damage.
Silicone greases, for example, are lubricants that blend well with this material, increasing the life span of components and significantly improving their performance.
A silicone grease can be considered the perfect plastic lubricant, as it tends to be inert towards plastics and elastomers. This means that it does not produce structural variations, in terms of:
- volume;
- weight;
- tensile strength;
- hardness.
Thanks to these characteristics, silicone grease is used not only as a lubricant for plastics but also in operation of numerous mixed couplings, such as rubber-plastic or metal-plastic.
Plastic lubricant: why use silicone greases
Although its use is limited to sectors such as the automotive industry, its characteristics make silicone grease one of the most versatile solutions on the market and the ideal product to use as a lubricant for plastics.
Let' start with the high viscosity-temperature coefficient, essential for devices subject to significant thermal excursions. In general, in fact, viscosity, and therefore friction, tend to increase at low temperatures, with effects on the components. In these conditions, silicone greases show their absolute supremacy over other synthetic lubricants, showing minimal variations in viscosity as the temperature varies.
Another fundamental characteristic is the low coefficient of friction that silicone greases have, as they are by nature "slippery": the siloxane polymer, in fact, is characterized by wide bond angles between silicone and oxygen. These bonds determine the main property of this lubricant: very low static and dynamic friction coefficients. Property, which is very evident in the presence of friction between elastomeric surfaces, such as rubber seals or sealing rings sliding on plastics.
Plastic lubricants: how to choose the right one
As we have seen, the destructive effects of the wrong plastic lubricant can be many and very serious, so it is important that you understand which type of product meets your needs.
To do this, it is important to know which tests to perform to best evaluate the interactions between plastics and lubricants, to know the chemical compositions of a lubricating grease, oil or paste, to find out which lubricant formulations can be used with "chemically" fragile plastics such as polycarbonate and ABS, for example.
All this, and much more, can be found in our "Lubricants and plastics" guide that you can download for free by clicking below. Enjoy the reading!
COMPATIBILITY GUIDE
Lubricants and plastics
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