LUBRICATION

Whenever a machine works, its moving, sliding or rolling parts rub against each other with the
result of that a friction is developed. This friction causes a lot of wear and tear of the concerned
surfaces. Further due to friction, large amount of energy is dissipated in the form of heat and
thus causes loss in the efficiency of a machine. Moreover, the heat produced due to friction
causes damage to the moving parts.

Lubricants
Definition: A lubricant is a substance, introduced to reduce friction between surfaces in
mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. This
minimises the wear and tear by the heat developed.

Lubrication: The action of applying a lubricant to an engine or between the sliding

surfaces so as to minimise friction and allow smooth movement is called lubrication.

Functions of Lubricants:
 The primary function of a lubricant is to prevent friction by creating a
boundary layer between two surfaces.
 Reduce the loss of energy in the form of heat and acts as coolant.
 Transport contaminants to filters.
 Protects from oxidisation and corrosion.
 It reduces the maintenance and running cost of maintenance.

Characteristics of a Lubricant:
 It should have enough viscosity and oiliness.
 It should have flash and fire points higher than the operating temperature of
the machine.
 It should be chemically inert.
 It should not come out of the surface under pressure.
 It should not evaporate easily.
 It should stick on the surface.
 It should leave low carbon residue.
 It should not form emulsion with water.
 It should have cloud and pour points lower than the operating temperature of
the machine.
 The volatility of the lubricating oil should be low.
 It should possess a higher resistance towards oxidation and corrosion.
Classification of Lubricants: Lubricants may be broadly classified as follows―

1. Solid lubricants
2. Semi-solid lubricants
3. Liquid lubricants

Solid Lubricants

The most widely used solid lubricants are graphite and molybdenum sulphide.
Solid lubricants are used in the following areas.
 For heavy machinery working as a crude job at very high loads.
 When the operating temperature or load is very high.
 Where a liquid or semi-solid lubricant film cannot be maintained.

Graphite

Graphite is an allotrope of carbon. Graphite has a layered structure of carbon atoms. The
carbon atoms are joined together by strong covalent bonds. The adjacent layers are held
together by the weak van der Waals force. Thus, they form a network of hexagons. Graphite is
soapy to touch, non-inflammable and not oxidised in air below 375 °C. It is used as a lubricant
in the form of powder or as suspension in oil or water. It fills the cavities and prevents the
friction. It is used for lubricating the joints or railways tracks.
Graphite can be used as a dry powder or as a colloidal dispersion.
A dispersion of graphite in water is called aqua dag and that in oil is called oil dag.
Uses: It is used as a lubricant in IC engines, air compressors, lathes, foodstuff industry,
railway track joints, general machine job works, etc.
Molybdenum sulphide

Fine powder of molybdenum sulphide is used as lubricant. It has the capacity to

withstand very high temperature. It is stable in air up to 500 °C.
Uses: It is used as lubricant in high-speed machines.
Semisolid lubricant

The most important semisolid lubricants are grease, Vaseline, waxes and other
compounds of oil and fats. These are called semisolid because they are neither solids nor
liquids at ordinary temperatures.

Grease

It is a mixture of mineral oil and soap. It is used for heavy load and low speed machines.
It is mainly used in bearing and gears. Grease is a semisolid lubricant obtained by thickening of
lubricating oil by the addition of a metallic soap. The thickener is usually sodium, calcium, and
lithium or aluminium soap.
 Greases are manufactured by saponification of fats with alkali followed by adding hot
lubricant oil under severe agitation. Their properties depend on both the base used for
saponification and the fatty acid present in the oil.

Liquid lubricants

The primary function of a liquid lubricant is to keep friction, wear and heat from
affecting the sliding surfaces by providing a layer of liquid between the surfaces.
They are classified as follows―
Vegetable oils: They are commonly used liquid lubricants. Examples: Castor oil,
coconut oil, etc. They are classified as drying and semi-drying oils. They are easily oxidised by
atmosphere.
Animal oils: They are oils of animal origin. They are mainly animal fats.
Examples: Tallow oil, whale oil, lards oil, coconut oil and olive oil etc. They are very costly.
Hence, they find little use as lubricants. They are also easily oxidised by atmosphere.
Mineral oil: Hydrocarbons with higher molecular mass obtained by the fractional
distillation of petroleum are used as lubricants. They are obtained from the paraffin residue.
Examples: Paraffin oil, lubricating oil, etc.
Blended oils: They are mixture of vegetable oils and petroleum products. They
show improved properties. Different oils are suitably mixed depending on the requirement.
They are synthetic lubricants.

Lubrication Mechanisms

Three mechanisms have been proposed to explain the action of lubricants they are―
① Thin film (or) Boundary Lubrication, ② Fluid Film (or) Hydrodynamic Lubrication and
③ Extreme Pressure Lubrication

Thin film (or) Boundary Lubrication

In this type of lubrication a thin film of lubricant is absorbed on the surface and held by
van der Waals forces. When the lubricant is not viscous enough to generate a film of sufficient
thickness for the separation of surfaces under heavy loads, friction is reduced by thin film
lubrication. Thin film lubrication is applied
when the speed is very low, the loading
heavy, the oil has low viscosity.
Some peaks may have higher
thickness than the film of lubricant which
results in wearing and tearing. Hence the
chemical or physical forces on some metal
surfaces would avoid the direct contact of
metals and absorb a thin layer of lubricating oil. The coefficient of friction is reduced due to
oiling.
 Fluid Film (or) Hydrodynamic Lubrication

This type of lubrication is also known as thick film lubrication. It is carried out with the
help of liquid lubricants. In fluid film lubrication the two sliding surfaces are separated by a
thick film of about 1000Ǻ which is applied to prevent direct surface to surface contact. Wearing
and tearing of metals is minimised.
In a ball bearing the irregularities of
the shaft and bearing surfaces are covered
by a thick film of lubricants and don’t not
allow. The content of metallic surfaces
with each other is shown in the figure. The
resistance to moment is only due to
resistance of the lubricant. Fluid film
lubrication is useful in delicate and light machines like watches, clocks, guns, scientific
equipments.
Extreme Pressure Lubrication

It involves chemical action on the part of lubricant. Under heavy load and high speed
conditions, high local temperature is generated. The liquid film may not stick, it may
decompose and vaporises. Hence special additives called extreme pressure additive are blended
with lubricating oil to form more durable film to with stand high temperature and pressure.
Chlorinated esters, sulpharised oils and tricrysylphosphates are used as extreme pressure
additives. These additives combined with the metallic surfaces with high temperature to form
metallic chlorides.

Physical Properties of Lubricants

Cloud Point: The temperature at which the impurities being to separate from the solution and
lubricating oil becomes cloudy or hazy in appearance is called cloud point.

Pour Point: The temperature at which the oil ceases to flow and pour is called pour point.

Flash point: The flash point of a volatile material is the lowest temperature at which vapours
of the material will ignite, given an ignition source.

Fire point: The fire point of a fuel is the lowest temperature at which the vapour of that fuel
will continue to burn for at least 5 seconds after ignition by an open flame.

Viscosity: Viscosity is the property of a fluid that determines its resistance to flow. It is an
indicator of flow ability of lubricating oil. The lower the viscosity is the greater the flow ability.
If temperature increases viscosity of the lubricating oil decreases and pressure increases
viscosity of lubricating oil increases.
Effect of temperature on viscosity: Viscosity is due to intermolecular forces between the
molecules of liquid. As the temperature raises the average kinetic energy of the molecules
increases which in turn decreases the intermolecular forces. So we can conclude that with
increase in temperature viscosity decreases.

Viscosity Index: The rate at which the viscosity of oil changes with temperature is measured
by an empirical number known as the viscosity index. A relatively small change in viscosity
with temperature is indicated by high viscosity index where as a low viscosity index shows a
relatively large change in viscosity with temperature.

Oiliness: It is defined as the power of an oil to maintain a continuous film under pressure when
used as lubricant.
The term “oiliness” is defined as that property of lubricants by virtue of which one fluid
gives lower coefficients of friction (generally at slow speeds or high loads) than another fluid of
the same viscosity

Volatility: Volatility describes how easily a substance will vaporise (turn into a gas or vapour).
If a lubricant is highly volatile, it will vaporise even at low temperature. In such case
consumption of lubricant will be high and lubrication will be costly.

Chemical Properties of Lubricants

TAN (Total acidity number): The total acid number (TAN) is a measurement of acidity that
is determined by the amount of potassium hydroxide in milligrams that is needed to neutralise
the acids in one gram of oil. It is an important quality measurement of crude oil. A good
lubricant is which that has no free acid present.

Emulsification: Emulsification is the property of oils to get mixed with water forming a
mixture called emulsion. The emulsion has the property of absorbing dust particles and foreign
matter present in the surroundings. A good lubricant is that which does not forms any emulsion
and if it is formed, it should not remain for a very long time.

Aniline point: The aniline point of oil is defined as the minimum temperature at which equal
volumes of aniline and lubricant oil are miscible, i.e., form a single phase upon mixing.

Iodine value: The iodine value indicates the degree of unsaturation of a fat or oil. It is defined
as the number of grams of iodine absorbed by 100 g of fat. Iodine value of a pure compound
can be calculated as―
253.81 × 𝑑𝑏
𝐼𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 100 ×
𝑚𝑤𝑓

db = no. of double bonds, mwf = molecular weight of fatty compound

Saponification value or Saponification number (SV or SN): It represents the number of
milligrams of potassium hydroxide (KOH) required to saponify one gram of fat under the
conditions specified. It is a measure of the average molecular weight (or chain length) of all the
fatty acids present in the sample as triglycerides. The higher the saponification value, the lower
the fatty acids average length, the lighter the mean molecular weight of triglycerides and vice-
versa. Practically, fats or oils with high saponification value (such as coconut and palm oil) are
more suitable for soap making.
𝐵−𝑆
𝑆𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = × 𝑀 × 56.1
𝑊
(B − S) = Difference between the volume of HCl solution used for the blank run and for the
tested sample, in mL
M = Molarity of HCl solution in mol/L
56.1 = molecular weight of KOH in g/mol
W = weight of sample, in g.