lubrication

lubrication, introduction of any of various substances between sliding surfaces to reduce wear and friction. Nature has been applying lubrication since the evolution of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints and bursas of vertebrate animals. Prehistoric people used mud and reeds to lubricate sledges for dragging game or timbers and rocks for construction. Animal fat lubricated the axles of the first wagons and continued in wide use until the petroleum industry arose in the 19th century, after which crude oil became the chief source of lubricants. The natural lubricating capacity of crude oil has been steadily improved through the development of a wide variety of products designed for the specific lubricating needs of the automobile, the airplane, the diesel locomotive, the turbojet, and power machinery of every description. The improvements in petroleum lubricants have in turn made possible the increase in speed and capacity of industrial and other machinery.

There are three basic varieties of lubrication: fluid-film, boundary, and solid.

Fluid-film lubrication.

Interposing a fluid film that completely separates sliding surfaces results in this type of lubrication. The fluid may be introduced intentionally, as the oil in the main bearings of an automobile, or unintentionally, as in the case of water between a smooth rubber tire and a wet pavement. Although the fluid is usually a liquid, it may also be a gas. The gas most commonly employed is air.

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To keep the parts separated, it is necessary that the pressure within the lubricating film balance the load on the sliding surfaces. If the lubricating film’s pressure is supplied by an external source, the system is said to be lubricated hydrostatically. If the pressure between the surfaces is generated as a result of the shape and motion of the surfaces themselves, however, the system is hydrodynamically lubricated. This second type of lubrication depends upon the viscous properties of the lubricant.

Boundary lubrication.

A condition that lies between unlubricated sliding and fluid-film lubrication is referred to as boundary lubrication, also defined as that condition of lubrication in which the friction between surfaces is determined by the properties of the surfaces and properties of the lubricant other than viscosity. Boundary lubrication encompasses a significant portion of lubrication phenomena and commonly occurs during the starting and stopping of machines.

Solid lubrication.

Solids such as graphite and molybdenum disulfide are widely used when normal lubricants do not possess sufficient resistance to load or temperature extremes. But lubricants need not take only such familiar forms as fats, powders, and gases; even some metals commonly serve as sliding surfaces in some sophisticated machines.

A lubricant primarily controls friction and wear, but it can and ordinarily does perform numerous other functions, which vary with the application and usually are interrelated.

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Control functions.

The amount and character of the lubricant made available to sliding surfaces have a profound effect upon the friction that is encountered. For example, disregarding such related factors as heat and wear but considering friction alone between two oil-film lubricated surfaces, the friction can be 200 times less than that between the same surfaces with no lubricant. Under fluid-film conditions, friction is directly proportional to the viscosity of the fluid (see Table 1). Some lubricants, such as petroleum derivatives, are available in a great range of viscosities and thus can satisfy a broad spectrum of functional requirements. Under boundary lubrication conditions, the effect of viscosity on friction becomes less significant than the chemical nature of the lubricant. Delicate instruments, for example, must not be lubricated with fluids that would attack and corrode the finer metals.

Wear occurs on lubricated surfaces by abrasion, corrosion, and solid-to-solid contact. Proper lubricants will help combat each type. They reduce abrasive and solid-to-solid contact wear by providing a film that increases the distance between the sliding surfaces, thereby lessening the damage by abrasive contaminants and surface asperities. The role of a lubricant in controlling corrosion of surfaces is twofold. When machinery is idle, the lubricant acts as a preservative. When machinery is in use, the lubricant controls corrosion by coating lubricated parts with a protective film that may contain additives to neutralize corrosive materials. The ability of a lubricant to control corrosion is directly related to the thickness of the lubricant film remaining on the metal surfaces and the chemical composition of the lubricant.

Lubricants also can assist in controlling temperature by reducing friction and carrying off the heat that is generated. Effectiveness depends upon the amount of lubricant supplied, the ambient temperature, and the provision for external cooling. To a lesser extent, the type of lubricant also affects surface temperature.

Other functions.

Various lubricants are employed as hydraulic fluids in fluid transmission devices. Others can be used to remove contaminants in mechanical systems. Detergent-dispersant additives, for instance, suspend sludges and remove them from the sliding surfaces of internal-combustion engines.

In specialized applications such as transformers and switchgear, lubricants with high dielectric constants act as electrical insulators. For maximum insulating properties, a lubricant must be kept free of contaminants and water. Lubricants also act as shock-damping fluids in energy-transferring devices (e.g., shock absorbers) and around such machine parts as gears that are subjected to high intermittent loads.

A wide variety of lubricants are available. The principal types are reviewed here.

Liquid, oily lubricants.

Animal and vegetable products were certainly man’s first lubricants and were used in large quantities. But, because they lack chemical inertness and because lubrication requirements have become more demanding, they have been largely superseded by petroleum products and by synthetic materials. Some organic substances such as lard oil and sperm oil are still in use as additives because of their special lubricating properties.

Petroleum lubricants are predominantly hydrocarbon products extracted from fluids that occur naturally within the Earth. They are used widely as lubricants because they possess a combination of the following desirable properties: (1) availability in suitable viscosities, (2) low volatility, (3) inertness (resistance to deterioration of the lubricant), (4) corrosion protection (resistance to deterioration of the sliding surfaces), and (5) low cost.

Synthetic lubricants generally can be characterized as oily, neutral liquid materials not usually obtained directly from petroleum but having some properties similar to petroleum lubricants. In certain ways they are superior to hydrocarbon products. Synthetics exhibit greater stability of viscosity with temperature changes, resistance to scuffing and oxidation, and fire resistance. Since the properties of synthetics vary considerably, each synthetic lubricant tends to find a special application. A few of the more common classes of synthetics and typical uses of each are shown in Table 2.

Another form of oily lubricant is grease, a solid or semisolid substance consisting of a thickening agent in a liquid lubricant. Soaps of aluminum, barium, calcium, lithium, sodium, and strontium are the major thickening agents. Nonsoap thickeners consist of such inorganic compounds as modified clays or fine silicas, or such organic materials as arylureas or phthalocyanine pigments. Lubrication by grease may prove more desirable than lubrication by oil under conditions when (1) less frequent lubricant application is necessary, (2) grease acts as a seal against loss of lubricant and ingress of contaminants, (3) less dripping or splattering of lubricant is called for, or (4) less sensitivity to inaccuracies in the mating parts is needed.