Lubrication products used in certain applications are subjected to much harsher conditions or higher temperatures than others.

This is why lubrication specialist Lubrication Engineers (LE) believes in continuously improving its products and creating solutions for particular applications.

“For example, Lubrication Engineers developed its 1250 Almasol High Temperature Lubricant with a clay thickener system, which has one of the highest temperature capabilities of any grease thickener technology currently available in the industry,” explains Lubrication Engineers South Africa national marketing manager Callum Ford.

He notes that bearings operating in or near heat-generating equipment are subject to temperatures that cause ordinary greases to melt and run, leaving critical bearing surfaces unprotected.

He added that Almasol High Temperature Lubricant is designed to withstand high temperatures, staying in place to provide constant lubrication and resists oxidation and vaporisation.

Further, by ensuring longer lubrication intervals and fewer bearing failures the Almasol High Temperature Lubricant helps contribute to increased production and a healthier bottom line.

It uses a base oil with a heavy viscosity and high flashpoint and a high natural viscosity index.

“The high temperature thickener has a high dropping point, which is why this product is ideal for applications such as asphalt plants, brick/ceramic kilns, exhaust fans, kiln car bearings, lime kilns, oven conveyors, pellet mills, plastics and soot blowers.”

“Almasol is the solid wear-reducing additive in the product, which is able to withstand extremely heavy loads, chemical attack and temperatures up to 1 038 ºC,” says Ford.

He explains that, the maximum useful lifetime for a grease in high temperature bearings depends on many factors such as temperature, the size and speed of the bearing, the amount of oxygen available to the grease in the bearing, the load on the bearing and the degree of external contamination.

The maximum useful lifetime guidelines for LE’s 1250 Almasol High Temperature Lubricant are 10 000 hours at 93 ºC, 100 hours 149 ºC and between one and four hours at 204 ºC.

Lubrication interval recommendations for Lubrication Engineers’ 1250 Almasol High Temperature Lubricant are much lower than the maximum useful lifetimes.

“This is because normal bearing relubrication practices replenish only a relatively small portion of the grease and the bulk of the grease in the bearing, at any given time period, has been there for a much longer time than the lubrication interval,” Ford concludes.