On the Shear Stability of Dry and Water-Contaminated Calcium Sulfonate Complex Lubricating Greases

Yuxin Zhou*, Rob Bosman, Piet M. Lugt

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    29 Citations (Scopus)
    376 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Calcium sulfonate complex greases have excellent extreme pressure, antiwear, and anticorrosion properties and are widely applied in rolling bearings, particularly in humid environments. In this article, the shear stability of dry and water-contaminated lubricating calcium sulfonate complex greases is described using a novel aging method. Unlike lithium and polyurea greases, no shear softening is observed for the dry greases due to the good mechanical stability of the particle-like thickener structure. For water-contaminated greases, no water separation was found during the prolonged aging. Instead, a homogeneous water–calcium sulfonate thickener micellar structure is generated. These micelles function as apparent thickeners and effectively increase the thickener concentration, which thickens the grease. This may explain why calcium sulfonate complex grease has excellent water absorption properties.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)626-634
    Number of pages9
    JournalTribology transactions
    Volume62
    Issue number4
    Early online date30 Apr 2019
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 4 Jul 2019

    Keywords

    • UT-Hybrid-D
    • Rheology
    • Water contamination
    • Grease application

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