Fluid Management – Hydraulic Oils
A common question amongst maintenance personnel is around the life exp…
Myths About Lubricating Grease
Because grease is so poorly understood, there are many myths surrounding grease quality. Some examples include: “black grease is better,” “sticky grease is better,” “red grease is the best,” “greases with different thickener types are always incompatible,” “good greases don’t bleed oil,” and “multi-purpose greases are all the same.”
Let’s take a closer look at that last myth. The truth is that multi-purpose greases can be made with different thickeners, different base oil viscosities and different additive combinations. Due to the possible combinations, this pretty much ensures that there is a range of performance in multi-purpose greases. There has not been an industry specification for “multi-purpose” grease to standardize performance. Until now.
NLGI: NLGI (formerly the National Lubricating Grease Institute) was incorporated in 1933 and is a not-for-profit trade association, primarily composed of companies who manufacture and market all types of lubricating grease, companies who serve them with equipment, supplies, and services, as well as research and educational groups and companies whose interests are primarily technical. Another category for membership is “Consumer,” which is for organizations that are users of lubricating grease. The Institute works continuously to strengthen its association by rendering service to the end-user of grease, as well as those on the manufacturing and supply side.
The objectives of NLGI are to disseminate information that can lead to the development of better lubricating greases for the consumer and to provide better grease lubrication engineering service to the industry.
NLGI endeavors to promote these objectives in several ways, including funding lubricating grease research, promoting improved laboratory and field tests and lubricating grease manufacturing improvements. Technical discussion forums between consumers, producers and educators are provided, and dissemination of technical data relevant to improved manufacturing techniques, new products, new uses, and new application and testing methods is fostered. Part of NLGI’s mission is to provide resources that are relevant to the global grease end-user (consumer) community.
