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Lubricating Greases

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Encyclopedia of Lubricants and Lubrication

Synonyms

Greases; Semifluid lubricants

Definition

In lubrication the solid to semifluid products of the dispersion of a thickening agent (thickener) in a liquid lubricant are called greases [1]. In most cases the thickener is a metal soap, and the grease contains additional compounds to improve performance. The transition from liquid to solid is fluid. Oils can already show structural viscosity with less than 5 % w/w of a thickener, but greases with a yield point usually contain from 5 % to 35 % w/w thickeners and, depending from demands, less than 1 % to 10 % and more % w/w additives.

There is no chemical or physical need to distinguish mineral oil-based, synthetic, and fully synthetic greases. None the less some authors call a grease synthetic when its base oil is not a mineral oil (see synthetic base oils), and others call a grease fully synthetic, when the thickener is synthetic, too.

History

It is possible that already the Sumerians had grease-like lubricants and used them in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Treppenweg 4, 67063, Ludwigshafen, Germany

    Wilfried Dresel

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  1. Wilfried Dresel
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Correspondence to Wilfried Dresel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Weinheim, Germany

    Theo Mang

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Dresel, W. (2014). Lubricating Greases. In: Mang, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lubricants and Lubrication. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22647-2_16

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