6 Gear Lubricants and Lubrication—Tomorrow's Requirements
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Published:2004
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The discussion in everyday life about environmental topics also inspires discussion on the technical development of lubricants and lubrication, e.g., saving of energy and natural resources of crude oil and the impact of waste oil on plant and animal life.
The important driving forces in future lubricant development are certainly the technical requirements of the lubricated components, mainly load-carrying capacity of gears, bearings, clutches, and synchromesh systems and the developed temperatures in these components, but increasingly also the ecological concerns of energy savings, savings of natural resources, problems in waste oil disposal and pollution. Last but not least, future lubrication development will strongly be affected by economical considerations where either large required quantities lead to acceptable lubricant prices or legal regulations dominate cost concerns.
In the following technical aspects and ecological demands of lubricant influence on low power consumption, wide temperature application range with good film formation abilities, fast biodegradability and lifetime lubrication, as well as testing possibilities are discussed from today's achievements and tomorrow's requirements.