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Alongside the synthetic base oil, the performance additive package plays a pivotal role in delivering the required levels of performance and protection to the gearbox. Bearings are one of the fundamental components of an industrial gearbox; their main function being to support spinning shafts and keeping them in place while torque is transmitted between gears. If a gearbox fails, it is the bearing that is the most frequent failure point within the unit. While much attention is therefore paid to protection of the bearings, IGOs must be formulated to perform for all of the potential failure mechanisms including gear scuffing, load damage, micropitting and white etching cracks (WEC).
In addition to bearing and gear protection being delivered through the careful formulation of extreme pressure additives, anti-wear additives and friction modifiers, a range of complementary additive technologies are typically needed to meet the needs of today’s modern industrial gearboxes. High performing IGOs need to rapidly remove water from the gearbox, resulting in the requirement for demulsifiers to agglomerate the water before its removal. Anti-foam additives are needed to prevent high surface foaming, so avoiding the IGO escaping through the breather system. Additionally, corrosion control additives to prevent ferrous metals from corroding, as well as yellow metal passivators to protect copper, brass and bronze components from corroding are required.
compatibiliser is typically done so at the expense of the base oil. It is therefore essential the compatibiliser is properly formulated to ensure the performance benefits of the synthetic base oil are not diminished.
Given today’s gearboxes have to operate in hotter and more severe conditions than ever before, OEMs are stepping-up the performance levels required from their gear unit oils. Many gearbox OEMs often use baseline industry oil standards, such as AGMA 9005-F16, DIN 51517-3 and ISO 12925-1, in addition to their own specific performance requirements. This results in more stringent performance standards for the gear oil, irrespective of the base oil used in the final formulation. Despite this, leading gearbox OEMs across all segments recommend synthetic PAO-based lubricants amongst other technologies to their customer base; acknowledging the added value these higher-performing IGOs are delivering to both their hardware and the individual application.
Summary
The demand for synthetic IGOs continues to grow, enabling modern gearboxes to deliver efficiency gains and lower total cost of ownership. Today’s higher- performing synthetic IGOs are having to deliver superior levels of performance and protection than ever before, not just for the gears and bearings, but for every single part of the gearbox, including adhesives, paints and seals. At the same time, IGOs must not promote the formation of WEC and be formulated to deliver to the exacting requirements that OEMs are demanding for their modern gearboxes.
The delivery of a high-performing synthetic IGO requires the careful formulation of base oil, performance additive package and compatibiliser, each working in complete harmony as a key component of the complete industrial gearbox system. By doing so, today’s modern gearboxes are enabled to perform to their full potential, in applications where longer life, lower maintenance and lower cost of ownership are all highly valued by the customer.
Due to the relatively poor solvency of synthetic base oils, the compatibiliser is a key component in the formulation; its primary role to ensure the performance additive package does not separate from the synthetic solution. When formulating IGOs it is critical to recognise that the addition of a
24 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.161 FEBRUARY 2021
LINKS
www.lubrizol.com
www.lubrizol360.com
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