Lubricants for High Temperatures
Guaranteed thermal resistance above 250°C

Do you want to ensure the smooth operation of your components at temperatures above 250° C?
Does your product or that of your customers require superior durability and performance?

In any mechanical component such as geared motors, bearings, hinges, valves or pneumatic cylinders, thermal deterioration of the lubricating oil or grease that surrounds them can cause a sequence of rapid destructive in your design.

The impact of heat on the lubricating film can have two sources:

• Internal – if generated by the friction of reciprocally sliding bodies, during normal operation
  
  
• External – when coming from a separate heat source close to the mechanical device

Even at temperatures as low as 100° C, heat can have devastating effects on your mechanical device due to a reduced thickness of the active lubrication film, which under normal conditions is equal to the diameter of a human hair! Its thermo-degradation rapidly reduces efficiency and kinematic life.

• The process of thermal degradation of a lubricating grease is progressive and unstoppable. Yet, the choice of a thermally-stabilised lubricant can make all the difference in ensuring the durability and performance required by the market.

  The degradation process occurs as follows:

  • Evaporation – transition from the liquid to the gaseous state of light molecular fractions, with relative thinning of the lubricating film
    
    
  • Primary oxidation – 1st stage of thermal degradation, in which the C-C and C-H bonds are broken down, forming carbonyl radicals that become peroxides in the presence of oxygen
    
    
  • Secondary oxidation – radicalisation of the thermo-oxidation process with the formation of carbon deposits, lacquers and solid compounds, where if the lubricating film is not properly restored at this stage, the functionality of the mechanical component may be severely impaired

The most obvious consequences of malfunctioning due to high operating temperatures can be translated into a sequence of concatenated and successive phenomena:

• Thinning of the lubricant film – reduction in the viscosity of the lubricating fluid with increasing temperature, resulting in a reduction of the lubrication passage responsible for the separation of friction surfaces
  
  
• Mechanical wear – loss of material due to the lack of the hydrodynamic lubricating film, eroded by evaporation and primary oxidation processes
  
  
• Abnormal increase in the coefficient of friction – a phenomenon caused by the evaporation of the fluid mass and the formation of carbon residue
  
  
• Loss of efficiency –increased energy absorption and drive torques
  
  
• Increase in noise – a loss of material due to mechanical wear, an increase in the friction coefficient and an absence of the hydrodynamic lubricating bearing produce an increase in friction noise between the materials of the tribological system
  
  
• Premature locking of the device –loss of functionality of the entire system