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Lube-Tech PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE


Hybrid wire rope lubricants are typically versions of coating lubricants that are diluted with volatile solvents to dramatically reduce the viscosity. The reduced viscosity allows for better rope penetration. Once applied the volatile solvent evaporates out and leaves behind either a high viscosity or hard coating on the rope from the inside out. Volatile compounds are losing favor in today’s more environmentally conscience users, making it much more difficult to formulate these hybrids.


Wire Rope Lubricant Formulations Wire Rope lubricants are often formulated from typical components. The components can be divided into three main types: base fluids, thickener, and performance enhancing additives.


Base Fluids: This is a description for a very wide variety of substances. Traditionally, many have been come from petroleum sources, such as oil or solvents. The base fluid is often the highest concentration ingredient in the product formula. Today, environmental rules, such as the EPA’s Vessel General Permitting regulations, described in more detail later, can deter a user from being able to use a petroleum based product, therefore today biodegradable vegetable and synthetic fluids are increasingly being used. High viscosity fluids, such as synthetic polybutenes and PAOs are also employed.


Thickeners: Many lubricant applications are enclosed in some sort of sump, therefore the lubricant is allowed to be either continuously splashed or sprayed onto moving parts. This is not true for most wire ropes. They are normally in the open exposed to wind, moisture, heat, and contamination. As already described a low viscosity fluid lubricant is effective at penetrating into the core of a wire rope, but it may not provide a long lasting coating. Any lubricant on exterior parts of the rope will just drip off. Thickeners are included to create a protective barrier between the external environment and the rope as well as to hold the lubricant in place. Common thickening additives can include waxes, resins, polymers, asphaltics, soaps, and solids. Waxes, resins, asphaltics, and polymers used are often solid to semi-solid materials that are dissolved in a solvent. Once applied the solvent evaporates a malleable coating is left behind. Typically, these end up providing better coating properties than lubricating properties. Soaps and solids described are similar to traditional grease thickener chemistry. The solids would include activated clays, carbon black, and fumed silica. Once again, environmental regulations may exclude the use of some of these materials, as most of them are not terribly biodegradable and many may not pass environmental toxicity testing.


Additives: Additives are included into wire rope lubricants to enhance desired performance properties. Common lubricant properties include friction modification (Antiwear and Extreme Pressure), corrosion prevention, oxidation resistance, and tackiness. It is normal that one might automatically expect a lubricant to provide wear reducing performance properties, but not all wire rope coatings are designed to be lubricants, so one must not assume a wire rope coating contains wear reducing


34 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.130 DECEMBER 2015 Environmental Considerations


For years many have been marketing various lubricants, including wire rope lubricants, calling them environmentally friendly, environmentally acceptable, or environmentally considerate. Oftentimes, this claim was primarily based upon biodegradability performance only. Today, there are guidelines laid out by various organizations for marketing of products, such as the European Union’s Ecolabel, Germany’s Blue Angel, or the Nordic Swan ecolabel. For the first time, teeth have been given to environmental properties with the U. S. EPA Vessel General Permitting regulations. Whether a company wants to comply with regulations or just pursue the mentioned ecolabel approvals, it can have a dramatic affect on what ingredients can be used in a formulation. To better understand this, perhaps further details about the U.S. EPA VGP would be helpful. Vessel General Permit (VGP) Requirements: The United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates discharges of various effluents into the US waters by ships or vessels of certain size. The VGP in effect allows a vessel operator the AUTHORIZATION TO DISCHARGE UNDER THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM. It states “in compliance with the provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA), as amended (33 USC 1251 et seq.), any owner or operator of a vessel being operated in a capacity as a means of transportation who is eligible for permit coverage; and if required submits a complete and accurate Notice of Intent (NOI) or completes a Permit Authorization and Record of Inspection (PARI) form, and retains it onboard the vessel is authorized to discharge in accordance with the requirements of this permit.”3


More specifically, the United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates discharges incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels greater than 79 feet in length and operating as a means of transportation primarily through the Vessel General Permit (VGP). The first VGP was issued in 2008 and effective until December 19, 2013. On March 28, 2013, EPA re-issued the VGP for another five years. That reissued permit, the 2013 VGP, took effect December 19, 2013 and superseded the 2008 VGP at that time.


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components. The wire rope coatings that are not designed to lubricate are usually designed as corrosion preventative products, especially rust, as many wire ropes are employed under wet and dirty environmental conditions. Often, if a wire rope coating product is designed to lubricate then it will also be designed to provide corrosion resistance properties as well. As the coatings are often exposed to the outdoors, they may also contain antioxidants to increase the longevity of the lubricant itself. As certain applications may require wire rope lubricant to be applied frequently, antioxidants may not always be necessary. Finally, it is important for a wire rope lubricant to adhere to the rods and strands of the rope. Therefore if the base fluids do not naturally possess these properties a tackifying additive may be included. As it has been noted that many wire rope applications are employed in environmentally sensitive areas, new regulatory requirements governing bioaccumulation and ecotoxicity properties may limit what additives can be used in a wire rope formulation.


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