Lubricants

Lubrication and Lubricants

Green waxes, adhesives and lubricants.

General characteristics of waxes, adhesives and lubricants as well as the recent fundamental investigations on their physical and mechanical behaviour are introduced. The current R&D status for new type/generation of waxes, adhesives and lubricants from natural products is reviewed, with an emphasis on their tribological applications. In particular, some crucial issues and challenges relating t...

How confined lubricants diffuse during shear.

The translational diffusion of a fluorescent dye embedded at a dilute concentration in a confined fluid was compared at rest and during shear. The fluid, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS), was confined between step-free muscovite mica to thickness 3-4 layers. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy showed that the time scales of intensity-intensity autocorrelation functions were essentially th...

Advocating for Rectal Microbicides and Safe Lubricants

I would love a microbicide gel. But right now, even cheap water-based lubes are simply NOT available in many settings. So what would be the case with a specially formulated gel? Of course, something to consider is that in some of our countries, something that “promotes homosexuality” like a rectal microbicide for anal sex, God forbid, might be banned before it is even actually produced! But, th...

Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants – the Future in Marine

As awareness of shipping’s impact on the environment grows, increasing attention is being paid to “operational lubricant discharges”. Such leakage of lubricating oil, in the course of normal operations, may occur both from underwater equipment (sterntubes, controllable pitch propellers, thrusters and pods, steering gear, stabilisers) and from above the waterline equipment (such as cranes, davit...