M.A. Delgado

Development of new green lubricating grease formulations based on cellulosic derivatives and castor oil

Environmentally friendly lubricating greases may be produced by solely replacing the mineral base oil for vegetable oil. However, the substitution of traditional metallic soaps by biodegradable and renewable thickeners is, up to now, much less considered. This work is focused on the development of new oleogels, using castor oil and cellulose derivatives, which could be potentially used as biodegradable lubricating greases. Thermal and thermo-rheological behaviours of these materials were characterised by means of TGA analysis and SAOS measurements, in order to evaluate the evolution of oleogel microstructure with temperature. Moreover, both roll-stability and leakage tendency standard tests, usually performed in the grease industry, were used to evaluate the mechanical resistance of each sample. The evolution of biogrease linear viscoelasticity functions with frequency is quite similar to that found for traditional lithium lubricating greases. However, the influence of temperature on biogreases linear viscoelasticity functions is less important than that found for traditional greases. In general, the biogrease samples studied show both slightly lower mechanical stability and higher leakage tendency than traditional lubricating greases. The use of a blend of ethyl and methyl cellulose as thickener provides a mechanical stability comparable to that found for commercial greases.

Rheology of epoxidized cellulose pulp gel-like dispersions in castor oil: Influence of epoxidation degree and the epoxide chemical structure

Several di- or tri-functional epoxides were used to chemically modify an industrial grade cellulose pulp from Eucalyptus globulus in order to thicken castor oil by dispersing epoxidized cellulose pulp fibers, resulting gel-like formulations with potential applications as biolubricants. Rheological properties of these colloidal suspensions were evaluated by analysing the effects of epoxidation degree and the epoxide chemical structure. With this aim, epoxidized cellulose pulp samples were characterized by means of epoxy index determination, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. It was found that linear viscoelastic functions, determined in small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS), and viscosity values of epoxidized cellulose pulp gel-like dispersions decreased by increasing the epoxy index, whereas the shear-thinning character was dampened with the extension of epoxidation. Aromatic di-functional epoxides provide higher values of these rheological functions than aliphatic ones.

Transient Shear Flow of Model Lithium Lubricating Greases

This work deals with the analysis of the transient shear flow behaviour of lithium lubricating greases differing in soap concentration and base oil viscosity. The shear‐induced evolution of lithium grease microstructure has been studied by means of stress‐growth experiments. With this aim, different lubricating grease formulations were manufactured by modifying lithium 12‐hydroxystearate concentration and base oil viscosity. Different rheological parameters, related to both the elastic response and the structural breakdown of greases, have been analysed. In this sense, it has been found that the elastic properties of lithium lubricating greases were highly influenced by soap concentration and oil viscosity. Moreover, an asymptotic tendency has been found for the stress overshoot by increasing shear rate. The asymptotic values of this parameter have been correlated to the friction coefficient obtained in a ball‐disc tribometer.

Processing and Formulation of Lithium Lubricating Greases

The effects that soap concentration, base oil viscosity and additives exert on the rheology of lubricating greases have been studied. Also, changes in both microstructure and rheology of lithium lubricating greases during their manufacturing process have been evaluated. With this aim, different lithium lubricating grease formulations were manufactured by modifying the concentration of lithium 12‐hydroxystearate, base oil viscosity and processing conditions or using different polymeric additives. The manufacturing process was followed through the mixing rheometry technique by measuring the evolution of torque with processing time, and samples of incipient and finished greases were taken from the stirred tank at different processing times. Rheological (small‐amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS)) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) observations were carried out on each sample. The experimental results obtained demonstrate that the values of the linear viscoelasticity functions and the mechanical behaviour...