How Do Lubricants Decrease Friction?
No matter why you need lubricants, you may have spent time wondering how they work. The fact is that all lubricants decrease friction in fundamentally the same way; this is true whether you use them in your car’s engine, to add a finish to finished metalwork products, or to make it possible to extract oil from deep pockets beneath the ocean. The differences arise in the types of lubricant products, the additives they contain, and how these properties combine in different ways to suit particular applications.
Here, the experts at Broughton Lubricants will explain the science behind lubricants and how they decrease friction, then discuss the factors you should consider when comparing products to ensure you choose the right one for your needs.
For support when shopping for lubricants, or advice on choosing the perfect product for a particular application, contact the experts at Broughton Lubricants today.
Call us on 03300 555 655 for industrial lubricants or 03300 555 109 for automotive products. Alternatively, use our online enquiry form to request a call back from our expert technical team.
How do lubricants work?
Castrol's XBB products are semi-synthetic, which means that they offer an excellent standard of performance, high efficiency, and an extended lifespan compared to mineral oils, but remain cost-effective compared with fully synthetic products.
For many metalworking processes, it is vital to regularly test the pH, concentration, bacterial content and other variables of the metalworking fluid in use to optimise machining performance, but the stability of the XBB range reduces these maintenance requirements. In fact, both the Castrol Alusol XBB and Hysol XBB fluids resist pH changes for longer than other products on the market. This keeps your cutting fluids working at the highest level for longer and thereby lowers operational costs while improving machining performance.
Most products in the range are free from chlorine, biocides like formaldehyde, and boron, which can help you to meet the legislative requirements for waste treatment and disposal that may apply to your sector.
Why do you need lubricants?
Lubricants are needed in a wide variety of applications - they not only help machinery to run at the highest level of performance, but in many cases, they are necessary to prevent damage to engines or any other equipment with moving parts. There are many negative consequences that can arise as a result of friction in an engine, and from using the wrong lubricant for a unique application.
However, by choosing the most suitable lubricant product, you will reduce wear and cut down the maintenance requirements of your machinery - whether that is your vehicle or a piece of industrial equipment. While automotive lubricants are not suitable for industrial applications, and vice versa, the need to choose the optimum product is equally important in both cases.
What can lubricants do aside from reducing friction?
Almost every method of renewable power generation that uses turbines will rely on lubricants to operate as efficiently as possible. For example, as well as wind turbines, hydroelectric turbines make use of oils and greases to lubricate bearings, decrease internal resistance and maximise energy generation. This means that a variety of lubricant products are common in both pumped hydroelectric energy storage and run-of-river hydroelectricity plants.
There are lubricant products that are specially designed for this type of application, which provide low foaming tendency, efficiency and operability at a wide temperature range, and longer oil change intervals. These qualities are all vital for improving efficiency in hydroelectric power generation.
As this demonstrates, each type of unit and each application will have different lubricant requirements that you should consider before choosing a product. While manufacturers’ recommendations are typically a useful place to start in terms of identifying the appropriate product, there are often reasons why you should consult other sources in addition. For example, the market for oils, greases and other lubricant products changes very quickly, while the units themselves will usually last a long time, especially if the right lubricant is chosen. This means that lubricants recommended in a user’s manual for a piece of machinery may have been discontinued, or that more advanced products have reached the market that can outperform the lubricant you have been encouraged to use.
In such cases, it is important to consult an expert about the lubricant you are using for your specific use case. At Broughton Lubricants, we can recommend the most suitable product that is currently available and even test your machinery and the lubricants you are using to determine whether or not you could make improvements.
To find out more about choosing the right lubricant to maintain wind turbines or other industrial machinery, or for advice on the sustainability and eco-friendly application of different products, call Broughton Lubricants.
Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help by calling us on 03300 555 655 or using our online enquiry form.
