My Attemt at Making My Dad & Son Immortal (semi)

[M.D. Holloway]

No, I didn't arrange to have their brains frozen! I derived an equation and had it accepted by two different technical commitees (NLGI & STLE). They asked to have it named something because it looks like it may just become an industry standard.

I decided to name it after my Dad and my Son. Just seemed like a cool thing to do. Here it is. Let me know what you think.

[vash]

mike, i wont tease you if you will just formally call out 4.9615 as the "cliff" constant! please?

[M.D. Holloway]

Ok- but you will have to "contantly" bug me to do so.

[M.D. Holloway]

I retract that - I just might put that on e-bay and go for the highest bid. Starting at $0.01. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll make a cool $5.

[vash]

sellout!

[Superman]

Yep, that's the equation I always use, though this version is oversimplified.

what is grease, anyway? I mean, it's not a petroleum product, right? What's it made of? And is it slippery like snot, or slippery like flour, or what?

[Drago]

Wow, that made my head hurt.

[widebody911]

But what is the question?

[Oh Haha]

Jeez, all I did today was talk to some customers and harass my workers.
I guess I'm not trying hard enough.
Seriously, that's pretty cool. Whatever the he!! it means. I like the EMMA project ,too.

[efhughes3]

I didn't even know we had a problem to solve?

If the lube think doesn't work out, NASA iand JPL are looking for Rocket Scientists.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by Superman
...what is grease, anyway? I mean, it's not a petroleum product, right? What's it made of? And is it slippery like snot, or slippery like flour, or what?

It has been theorized that upon the invention of the wheel and axle quickly came the use of a lubricant. Water was most likely the first lubricant. In 1450 BC, ancient Egyptians used animal fat thickened with ash or lime. This was perhaps the first soap-based grease. These concoctions were popular as were combinations of wood tar, vegetable oils and various minerals such as marble dust and mica. Petroleum-oil-based greases did not become popular until the early 1900’s. As soap technology developed in conjunction with crude oil refining, many different greases were developed. During the greater part of the twentieth century, hundreds of different types of greases were developed for general use to very specific applications. Within the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to minimize the number of greases used in a facility. There are few greases that have been developed that will work in a multitude of environments and conditions to provide superior lubrication and protection. It is now possible to easily determine which grease is the best candidate for a grease consolidation effort.

There are three components of a grease - the base oil, the thickener, and performance additives. Traditionally, the base oil was considered the major component. In many conventional greases it can be found to be 70% to 95% of the grease. Because of this reason, many bearing manufacturers consider the base oil viscosity to be a predominant factor in grease selection and approval for their products. The fact remains that, with recent technological developments in the two other components (thickeners and performance additives), the base oil has become less of a determining factor and more of a component of a synergistic effect among the three.

The second component is the thickener. This is what gives the grease its body. The thickener is typically how grease is characterized, which can lead to confusion and in some instances misrepresentation. Producing a thickener can be a very complicated process. One manufacturer may attempt to produce one type of thickener for grease only to have it fall short in performance compared to other products of the same thickener type. The raw materials used and the manufacturing process may dictate if a thickener will provide superior or marginal performance. The thickeners chosen may be simple metal soaps, complex soaps, synthetic organic thickeners, or inorganic gelling agents. In many instances the thickener is referred to as the soap of the grease even if it is not chemically defined as a soap. This is becuase the first multipurpose grease formulas were calcium, sodium or lithium soaps. Thickeners can account for 2% to 40% of the grease.

The performance additives incorporated into the grease formulation provide specific functionality such as rust and corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance and even improved lubricity when additives such as molybdenum disulfide or graphite are used. These chemicals, both solid and liquid, can account for 1% to 25% or more of the final grease formulation, depending on what performance criteria and targets need to be met.

Sorry, don't mean to rant...

[Oh Haha]

Mike, you really seem to enjoy your work. Did you plan on being a "lubemaster"? It's nice to see such passion for one's career.

[M.D. Holloway]

no - only been doing this gig for the past 6 years. Actually, I wanted to go to med school and study neurology but I got an ex-girl friend pregnant - had to get a paying job in a chemical plant instead.

[Joe Bob]

But is it SLICKER than cat***** on glass?

[widebody911]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
It has been theorized that upon the invention of the wheel and axle quickly came the use of a lubricant.

I'll bet you there were cavewomen who would dispute that...

[M.D. Holloway]

wonder what the first KY was? Bear fat?

[DonDavis]

Lube,
That's really cool! Congrats!

Originally posted by widebody911
But what is the question?

Thom,
D'oy! It's 7*6. Waitaminute...........nah, that's too easy.

[M.D. Holloway]

funny thing, got a call today about this - ironic that it is considered a way to simplify the selection process when the burn and churn equation is anything but simple - but it actually gets easy if the supplier just provides the LMn of a grease - the one closest to 100 is the best overall.

I have begun work on an LMn for engine oil selection - in another 2 years I should have enough data through oil anaylsis and maintenance records from many different sources that will validate the numbers. Stay tuned.