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Motor oil, a common lubricant. A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, transporting foreign particles, or heating or cooling the surfaces.
A true grease consists of an oil or other fluid lubricant that is mixed with a thickener, typically a soap, to form a solid or semisolid. [1] Greases are usually shear-thinning or pseudo-plastic fluids, which means that the viscosity of the fluid is reduced under shear stress.
A new process to break down polyethylene, a common plastic product found in many consumer containers, converts it into a paraffin-like wax with the correct molecular properties for conversion into a lubricant, avoiding the expensive Fischer–Tropsch process. The plastic is melted and then pumped into a furnace.
The lubricity of a substance is not a material property, and cannot be measured directly. Tests are performed to quantify a lubricant's performance for a specific system. This is often done by determining how much wear is caused to a surface by a given wear-inducing object in a given amount of time. Other factors such as surface size ...
Group V base oils are defined by API as any other type of oil other than mineral oils or PAO lubricants. Esters are the most famous synthetics in Group V, which are 100% synthetic chemical compounds consisting of a carbonyl adjacent to an ether linkage. They are derived by reacting an oxoacid with a hydroxyl compound such as an alcohol or phenol.
Dry lubricants or solid lubricants are materials that, despite being in the solid phase, are able to reduce friction between two surfaces sliding against each other without the need for a liquid oil medium. [1] The two main dry lubricants are graphite and molybdenum disulfide. They offer lubrication at temperatures higher than liquid and oil ...
The size of the particle and many other interrelated components of a lubricant make it difficult to make blanket statements about whether PTFE is useful or harmful. Although PTFE has been called "the slickest substance known to man", [15] [16] it would hardly do any good if it remains in the oil filter.
Vegetable oils such as castor oil are typically unattractive alternatives to petroleum-derived lubricants because of their poor oxidative stability. [47] [48] Castor oil has better low-temperature viscosity properties and high-temperature lubrication than most vegetable oils, making it useful as a lubricant in jet, diesel, and racing engines. [49]