Citation
Taylor, J. (1999), "Comment and opinion", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 51 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.1999.01851faa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Comment and opinion
In the last issue we reported on the British Lubricants Federation (BLF) Metalworking Fluid symposium held in May 1999.
A welcome development from this conference is that the idea of a "stewardship" of metalworking fluids in the marketplace offered by the BLF seems to have gained support. The funding coming from fluid producers has not been clarified yet. However plans are in progress to move the concept onto the next stage by preparation of an information package It is hoped that this will encourage full participation by the proposed start date at the beginning of 2000.
In this issue solid lubricants have again provoked papers. Josef Pohlen introduces work done supporting the interesting possibility of replacing solid lubricants with advanced thickener technology.
Dr Braithwaite's article reports on experimental work, which demonstrates significant benefits when an engine was "run in" on an oil containing dispersed molybdenum disulphide.
With the increased availability of HVI hydrocracked base stocks and their beneficial use in both automotive and industrial oils it is timely to study Dr Ryan's work on additive response. She describes how different additive types are needed to maximise the performance achievable with these new base stocks. The potential differences between base oils in the same API group but from different base oil production units are emphasised. The implications of this work to re-refiners and users who top up large systems with oil from different suppliers are potentially serious.
Grease thickeners are the subjects of Dr Alagar's paper. He describes work on variations of soap types, which have a marked improvement on finished product performance.
John Taylor