Written by Jonny Williamson
Lubricants are used across many industries throughout the world, predominantly to cool tools and parts from overheating and breaking by reducing friction and carrying away debris. Industrial processes such as drilling, turning, grinding, cutting and milling all benefit from lubricants, often made from 90 percent mineral oils.
There are a number of drawbacks to using mineral oils; it isn’t an ideal way to dissipate heat caused by friction, it is flammable and it does carry some health concerns, not to mention the fossil oil comes from a finite resource. The safe use, handling and eventual disposal of mineral oil lubricants can amount to a constant drain on a manufacturers finances, so a global focus has been on finding an alternative.
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Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, in the German town of Freising, have carried out two tests where lubricating oils were replaced with water.
Dr. Michael Menner, a Fraunhofer researcher, said:
"At IVV here in Freising, we have been looking at the issue of cooling lubricants for some considerable time. In two projects, supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, we have successfully replaced oil with water.”
To enable the water to act as a sufficient lubricant, additives were added to better simulate the performance of oil.
Another researcher, Andreas Malberg, who also worked on both studies, commented:
“The additive is a biopolymer, a product you can buy wherever you want.”
Malberg was not able to state the name of the exact biopolymer employed by the researchers, but what is known is that it acts as a thickening agent. The standard viscosity of water is 1mPa, but the addition of the agent raises it to 40mPa, similar to that of oil.
The further addition of a water-soluble additive enabled the enhanced water to have the extra benefit of providing anti-corrosive properties.
Aside from the water-based lubricant having a much lower environmental impact, components and machines which use the lubricant are easier to clean, health and safety concerns are eliminated, and the cost of companies having to convert is relatively inexpensive,
The alternative lubricant has already won the German raw material efficiency prize in December last year, and is currently being sold under the name Carl Bechem with the brand name BERUFLUID.