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An assessment of beeswax as a thickener for environmentally friendly lubricating grease production
Author(s) -
Kreivaitis Raimondas,
Padgurskas Juozas,
Gumbytė Milda,
Kupčinskas Artūras
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
lubrication science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.632
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1557-6833
pISSN - 0954-0075
DOI - 10.1002/ls.1285
Subject(s) - beeswax , grease , environmentally friendly , tribology , materials science , rapeseed , lubricant , pulp and paper industry , base oil , environmental pollution , composite material , chemistry , environmental science , wax , engineering , food science , ecology , environmental protection , biology , scanning electron microscope
Environmentally friendly lubricants are preferred in many applications where groundwater or soil pollution is possible. The main purpose of the current study was to evaluate the possibility of beeswax use as a thickener for lubricating greases. European beeswax was used as a thickening material for the preparation of lubricating greases. Rapeseed oil and two mineral oils were used as base oils. The consistency, dropping point temperature, and tribological properties of the prepared lubricating greases were investigated and compared with conventional soap‐thickened greases. The prepared greases exhibited good tribological properties, especially the rapeseed‐oil‐based grease. However, tribological properties of conventional lubricating grease were superior to prepared ones. The weakness of the prepared lubricating greases is their narrow working temperature range. However, the beeswax together with rapeseed oil has great potential in the production of environmentally friendly, completely renewable lubricating greases. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.