Industrial | Frontier

Six categories, six different ways of choosing

This group covers most of the lubrication points in a plant, but the selection criterion differs radically from one category to the next — and that is where most mistakes are made. In hydraulics you start from the viscosity range the pump requires and from the ISO 4406 cleanliness class; in gearing, from the dominant failure mode, because scuffing and micropitting call for opposite answers. In compressors the machine type decides: screw, reciprocating, refrigeration and vacuum use products that do not substitute for one another. In turbines the criterion is not load capacity but oxidation stability over tens of thousands of hours. Circulating and slideway oils have to cling to the way and still separate from the coolant. And metalworking fluids are judged more on sump management than on formulation.