Up-to-date tribology equipment for standard qualification of greases

Abstract

Tribotesting of greases as a range of standardised procedures, which are complementary to laboratory analyses of physicochemical grease properties, is in some cases conducted, using classical tribometers, but generally requires more specific techniques complying with the standard qualification procedures recognised for years by major manufacturers of greases and bearings. The authors concentrate on the popular range of upto- date equipment for grease testing, including some disadvantages in the older constructions, and the novelties of the new designs, eliminating any inconsistency between the requirements of the standards (DIN, ISO, ASTM, etc.) and the tribological conditions with the goal of providing a reliable adequateness between the real conditions in the machinery and those in the test rigs.