In This Issue:

• Up Front: Want change? Benchmark.

• Book Bits: Additive Refortification

• Today's Tip: How to Store Grease Cartridges

• Q&A: Take the Synthetic Challenge

Up Front

Want Change? Benchmark.

Like many of our colleagues, you want your lubrication program to be effective. Yet you often find yourself frustrated in your efforts to obtain the elusive world class status. There's never a budget for such a goal and management just doesn't understand the benefits involved. How do you push through this type of change?

I can't think of many tools that can identify strategic opportunities to management as well as benchmarking. When best practices are benchmarked, gaps in current operations are identified. Management sees these gaps as opportunities.

Currently you won't find many benchmarking studies in the area of lubrication. We're planning to change that. Noria has just completed the first of several benchmarking studies - Lubricant Suppliers by Product and Service Offerings.

Lubricant users and consumers were surveyed to determine which lubricant supplier-related services and products are the most important to achieving their goals. Topics on the survey relating to lubricant suppliers were: performance and quality, service and support, product lines, packaging and transport, oil analysis services, and application match.

For comparison, we also surveyed the lubricant suppliers to determine what they find important.

The results to these surveys will be revealed and discussed in a two-hour session at the Practicing Oil Analysis 2002 Conference in March. Probably even more important than the results of the survey, will be the discussion and comments from lubricant users and suppliers at this session.

Mike Ramsey
mramsey@noria.com

Book Bits

Here's an excerpt from the Practicing Oil Analysis '99 Conference presentation entitled "Oil Reconditioning, Reclaiming and Recycling - Understanding the Processes and the Role of Oil Analysis in Each."

Additive Refortification

The most important aspect of determining additive levels is having an overall understanding of the state of the fluid. If there are unanswered questions with the initial batch of tests that are performed, it is imperative to perform additional diagnostic tests.

Many additives are sacrificial, meaning that once they have reacted, they are no longer of value. Eventually, these additives may polarize and fall out of solution in the form of particulate or varnish. It is important that the reprocessing technology has filtration capabilities sufficient to absorb or filter out these contaminants. Some additives will decompose and change into molecular structures that act as catalysts to oxidation. Prior to the additives changing structure however, they may still be evident in the oil. Metallic additives that are detectable through spectrography may still appear in an analysis even though they are no longer providing protection. Therefore, tests in addition to a spectrograph analysis are necessary to accurately determine additive levels.

You can download this entire paper and other files from:
http://www.noria.com/secure/ebooks.asp

Click here for more information about the "Practicing Oil Analysis '99 Conference Proceedings".

Today's Tip

• Do not store grease gun cartridges on their side. The grease could soften due to temperature and create an air pocket that could hinder the ability of the grease gun to function properly. Store the cartridges upright. (Tip submitted by Rodger Shaffer, Timken Latrobe Steel. Thanks Rodger!)

Each tip published will earn the sender $25. Click here to submit your tip.

Q & A

Take the Synthetic Challenge. Can You Tell The Difference?

"Relating to gear boxes on trucks, if the owner or the driver doesn't know if the gear lubes are synthetic, is there a fool- proof way to determine this without having to send a sample to the lab? Some oil manufacturers color their synthetic oils, while others don't. What would happen if the oils were to be mixed or topped off with the wrong oil?" -- Submitted by Craig Knight

The color of the lube, as I'm sure you are aware, is simply a dye. There are no standards, and manufacturers can and do change colors whenever they please. Unfortunately, there is no reliable way of differentiating between mineral and synthetic in the field. However, because synthetic base oils are white (meaning transparent) as compared to a mineral oil which has a darker natural color (due to aromatics, sulfur, and other impurities), this may be a distinguishing factor. Note, however, that despite the fact that the base oil of a synthetic is white, the additives can add considerable color (darkening) to the finished oil.

In the laboratory you could distinguish synthetics from mineral oil by looking at a combination of physical properties including VI, flash point, pour point, and aniline point (all standard ASTM tests). There may also be different elemental additive chemistry.

Generally, in the type of application you are talking about, the synthetic gear oil will likely be polyalphaolefin (PAO) based. PAOs are very similar chemically to mineral oils and hence mixing the two should not cause a compatibility problem (especially if both oils are the same API classification). Although, if a synthetic is required, for example for cold temperature operation, using a mineral by mistake may cause other problems.

Also be aware that in industrial applications, some synthetic gear oils are polyglycol (PAG) basestocks, which are chemically incompatible with both PAO synthetics and mineral oils. In this case, mixing will result in serious incompatibility issues.

Mark Barnes, PhD, Senior Consultant, Noria Corporation

Copyright © 2002, Noria Corporation. All rights reserved. If you would like to reproduce a Lube-Tip on your Web site, you must use the entire issue (without sponsorship messages and the training calendar). All links must work. For an example of how you can include Lube-Tips content on your Web site, go to: http://www.lube-tips.com/example.asp. The presence of advertising in Lube-Tips does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services in such ads. Further, because results will vary widely based on a number of factors, Noria Corporation cannot warrant the results, the accuracy or the completeness of any material published herein.

Lube-Tips is published by Noria Corporation. Oil Analysis and Lubrication Experts