Multipurpose greases based on lithium technology have been the global standard for over 60 years, establishing a majority share of greater than 70 percent of the world’s lubricating grease market today. The well-balanced performance enabling application versatility combined with an attractive price have been the main drivers behind this enduring dominance.
From the 21st to the 24th April, 2018, the ELGI will be celebrating its’ 30th Birthday by hosting their AGM at The Grange St Pauls Hotel, London with this years’ theme being: Mobility Quo Vadis – Developments in the Grease Industry. The Future of Transportation – Cars, Boats, Planes & Trains.
This paper by Johanna Larsson and Roland Ardai of AXEL Christiernsson presents how different oil and thickener combinations respond to water and how this affects grease performance as lubricants at both normal operating conditions and at low temperatures.
AXEL has developed Calsullence. This modern calcium sulphonate complex platform combines high load carrying capability and excellent corrosion protection in a highly shear stable package. Its adhesive properties ensure excellent resistance to the effects of water ingress whilst also enabling a barrier against other external contaminants such as dirt and operational debris.
Hello, my name is Eric van der Horst. I recently started as General Manager at AXEL Christiernsson in the Netherlands. I have had different leadership positions in several international companies including plastic composites manufacturer Voestalpine Polynorm, Polytec (both Austrian), Drum manufacturer Greif (US) and plastic packaging manufacturer Precise Technology (US- later sold to Rexam -UK). I started my career at Manuli (rubber hose assemblies for automotive) after military duty and studying mechanical engineering. I have worked in the Netherlands, Germany and Spain and have extensive experience in the automotive supplier sector.
AXEL Christiernsson has acquired the operating assets and the majority of other assets of Royal Mfg Co, LP. The business will now be carried forward as AXEL Royal LLC, a subsidiary of AXEL Americas LLC, building on the heritage of Royal Mfg Co, LP as a well-established supplier of lubricating greases and lubes in the US market and abroad.
On the 14th & 15th September, ACIs’ 2016 European Base Oils & Lubricants Summit will be taking place at the Hilton Warsaw Hotel & Convention Centre in Warsaw, Poland.
During the 2016 NLGI annual meeting in Hot Springs, Virginia, John Lorimor (AXEL Americas) was the recipient of the NLGI’s prestigious Author Award. This annual award is given to the best paper presented at the prior year’s meeting that focuses on formulation, development, and manufacture of finished greases.
John’s paper, titled "Development of next generation electrical motor greases offering improved frictional characteristics,” demonstrated that novel polymer based grease thickeners such as AXEL’s NoioN product line, when specially formulated for friction reduction, can offer improved energy efficiency in applications like electric motors over the benchmark EM bearing greases currently dominating this market.
Lithium, or rather the lack of it, is a subject of deep concern for many grease manufacturers. What if there is a world shortage due to its use in other applications such as car batteries or nuclear fuel? We may not need to look any further than to the deep blue sea, all according to an interesting article in the April 2014 edition of Chemical Engineering. Japanese scientists are seemingly investigating a method of recovering lithium from seawater while simultaneously generating electricity. The same researchers are planning to build a pilot plant to recycle lithium from batteries and recover lithium and other minerals from desalination brine. So we may no longer have to rely on the national treasures of South America. And there may still be hope for Clarence Earle´s invention, and for many grease makers.
In an extremely interesting article by Lisa Tocci in the April 2014 issue of Lubes´n´Greases entitled “Is this sustainable?” she refers to a presentation made in Esslingen recently by Lutz Lindemann of Fuchs Petrolube. He reported that lubricants consumption worldwide remained essentially unchanged over the past year despite a general global production growth of around 2%. The world’s vehicle population has increased dramatically over the years while the average volume of lubricants consumed per car has fallen sharply. So, while economists are now expecting global GDP to expand by some 3.6% in 2014, how will this relate to our lubricating greases? A difficult equation to solve! It does mean however that a lower volume of grease is seemingly doing a very good job and that the value of grease (per kilo) should be much greater.