Talk:Grease (lubricant)

"Some rendered animal fats are known as greases. Rendered chicken fat becomes the commodity known as yellow grease. Animal greases may have been used as lubricants in the past, but this is not now common in developed nations."

Every dictionary I've looked in has animal fat as the first definition of grease, and it seems to be the etymology of the word. Wikipedia isn't a dictionary, but is it odd to devote the entire article to what is technically a secondary meaning of the word?

Concur with anon editor, and have clarified intro. --TheEditrix2 07:55, 15 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

rust

Isn't grease also applied to prevent rusting (by keeping water off/out)? Rvollmert 11:39, 2004 Jul 31 (UTC)

It can be, but that is a secondary effect--generally you only have exposed, unpainted metals if you have external moving parts, like bike chains. Some greases are not water resistant, it depends on the type of emulsifier used. Since the emulsifiers tend to be soaps, if they do dissolve in water, they can actually help to remove the residual oils... Heavier oils are more often used as a protectant for non-painted metal surfaces (like blued steel in firearms), but they tend to rub off, thus losing their protective abilities and likely staining surfaces they contact. Greases can be used, but suffer the same disadvantages as oils. Waxes are my own preferred treatment for firearms, since wax isn't as slippery (don't want to drop a loaded gun) and it doesn't rub off. There is a company that I ran across that sells a mix of soap base, wax, and dry lubricant--sort of a solid EP grease--that they promote for use with bike chains. The solid nature of the final product keeps it from collecting dust and grit, and turning into what is effectively a grinding compound. scot 17:26, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Music vs. Lubricant

Does anyone else think that the musical should occupy this page and the lubricant the disambiguation? Dmn / Դմն 21:42, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Page split

Unless there's an objection, I'm going to move the lubricant content to grease (lubricant) and leave this page with just the disambiguation content. scot 02:37, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Shear thinning vs. melting

This statement: "Grease-lubricated bearings have greater frictional characteristics at the beginning of operation, causing a temperature rise which tends to melt the grease and give the effect of an oil-lubricated bearing" seems to contradict this one: "Lithium based grease has a drip temperature at 350° to 400°F". If friction induced temperature rise is the root cause of the shear thinning effects of grease, then it would have to run at >400F to lubricate well, which is obviously not the case for oil/soap greases, thought it may apply to petroleum jelly and similar room temp solid oils. I'm going to take out the bit about temperature rise causing the thinning, since it obviously doesn't apply to most greases. The actual mechanism has, I beleive, something to do with the polar/nonpolar mix, and pseudo-crystalline arrangesments formed when the fluid is at rest. scot 18:26, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Copper grease

I've just come across something called 'copper grease', which apparently has anti-seizing properties. Like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/79048/Automotive/Car-Lubricants/3-in-1-Oil-Pro-Anti-Seize-Copper-Grease?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Datafeed-_-Automotive-_-3-in-1%20Oil%20Pro%20Anti-Seize%20Copper%20Grease

If anyone knows anything about what it is and how it works, i'd be very interested to read about it.

-- Tom Anderson 2008-06-15 2052 +0100 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.40.81.143 (talk) 19:56, 15 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have heard of copper grease, but I think it primarilly acts to chemically prevent corrosion (sacrificial maybe) rather than lubricating

195.137.3.245 (talk) 17:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thixotropic

"the reduction of shear force with time makes it thixotropic."

Should that be reduction in shear strength?

195.137.3.245 (talk) 17:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

grades of grease for automotive use?

At a store near me there are containers of grease for sale, all apparently intended for use in automobiles, of the same brand name from the same manufacturer.

At the lowest price level is a yellowish translucent grease, marked "lithium grease."

Slightly more expensive is jet-black "lithium moly high pressure grease," which I assume contains a certain quantity of powdered molybdenum disulfide.

Most expensive is a bright red translucent substance, labeled "multi duty complex, high pressure, high temperature grease."

What do these terms mean in this context, and how is its composition likely to differ from the others? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.148.105.4 (talk) 20:51, 19 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If it's Wal-Mart, you can look up their MSDS pages online. Mind you, they're not always very enlightening. Half the greases and lubricant products seem to be listed as "ingredients: proprietary additives" Which does not answer your question, I know. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.224.244.181 (talk) 01:38, 21 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What is "Grease OG-2 (PC Red)"

What does OG mean? I found a tube of it and don't know if it can be used instead of lithium grease. Manufacturer is Petro Canada. (87.95.131.221 (talk) 10:33, 2 August 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Fluid or solid?

The first sentence of section Properties, says "A true grease consists of an oil and/or other fluid lubricant that is mixed with a thickener, typically a soap, to form a solid." The third sentence says that "greases are a type of [...] fluid."

Either something is a solid or a fluid, no?

I am guessing there should be some other word than "solid" in the first sentence. Stephanwehner (talk) 05:52, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Axle Grease

redirects to Grease, which doesn't discuss Axle Grease. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.88.44 (talk) 16:11, 19 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Too heavy focus on theory of classic greases for metals

As written, the article sounds like it is focused on a theoretical foundation for the physical properties of grease used with mechanisms made from metals (steel, copper, brass etc.). This silently leaves out information about greases used with

Non-metal (plastic, wood, stone ...) mechanics and/or
Non-moving parts (to prevent corrosion or other environmental effects).

For example I have read elsewhere on the net that plastic mechanisms need to be lubricated (if at all) with specially selected greases that don't react chemically with the parts being greased and which don't contain or attract abrasive particles (of the kind sometimes added deliberately to similar grease intended for steel mechanisms).

As another example, blank steel or iron objects (including some weapons) are often covered in grease to prevent corrosion during long term storage. The greases used for this purpose are typically selected for longevity and hydrophobic properties and may lack the anti-friction properties which the current article introduction claims as the defining characteristic of "grease".

As a third example, some kinds of leather (especially footwear and exposed living human skin, i.e face/hands) are often protected from sub zero winter temperatures by covering with various kinds of grease that don't freeze in this environment.

The "greases" I just mentioned may not all have that "thixotropic" property, but they are all semi-sticky semi-solids that feel like animal grease and so get to be considered as "grease" in the most ordinary meaning of the word. It may be that some of these are physically dissimilar enough to belong in a separate article, but to the ordinary reader of Wikipedia, they all qualify as variants of "grease (lubricant)" and need to be described or explicitly linked to in the main article on "grease (lubricant)". 77.215.46.17 (talk) 20:50, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]