Cooling The Heat

Industrial Coolants & Lubricants Are Changing With The Emergence Of High Performance, Synthetic, Water Soluble And Better Lubricity Options That Are Emerging.

- Bindu Gopal Rao

A KEY FACTOR THAT IS GUIDING THE coolants & lubricants space is the consideration of environmental protection. This assumes increased importance in the context of manufacturing of machine industrial products, which is why the demand for the reduction of environmental load is becoming predominant in production. In the development of machining procedures, coolants & lubricants contribute not only to the increase of the effectiveness of material removal, but help to achieve the appropriate accuracy and quality. At the same time, coolants & lubricants, depending on their composition, pollute the environment to different extents. That is why it is the task of technologists in the planning and execution of material removal to reduce the amount of these auxiliary materials, or do without them if possible.

KEY DRIVERS

Out of the global lubricant demand of approximately 40 million tonnes, the industrial lubricant market can be segmented into several categories depending on their applications. Some of the most used lubricants are gear oils, hydraulic lubricants, engine oils and cutting fluids. Approximately 80% of these fluids are mineral-based. The quality and performance of these liquids largely depend on the quality and refining process of the base oils used and also the technology of performance additive packages.