Mining- Solutions
Lubrication Solutions to Wear Rate Reduction By Chuck Strait
Petron Corpora on, located in New Berlin,
equipment owing to their ever-increasing
Formula ng our products with primarily
Wisconsin, USA, has over 50 Years of
demands.
heavy viscous oils, in many cases above
experience manufacturing high performance
Some historians call pin and bushing joints
50,000 cSt, along with a light carrier oil,
lubricants focusing on surface mining,
the first type of bearings. They have been
allows Petron lubricants to have the
underground mining, and ore processing.
around for thousands of years and were
characteris cs of a much lower “apparent”
Petron Corpora on's specialty lubricants
originally used in applica ons such as
viscosity lubricant. This lower “apparent”
excel in lubrica ng equipment such as
rota ng wheels on wooden axles. However,
viscosity lubricant will flow readily into a load
Draglines, Electric/Hydraulic Shovels, Loaders,
in today's mining world there are hundreds of
zone, deposi ng select addi ves and high
Haul Trucks, and any other mobile pit
machines that use various materials and
viscous oil molecules right where they are
equipment, as well as Crushers and all types
configura ons for their pins and bushings.
needed the most, while remaining viscous
of Mills.
Though material construc on has changed
enough to eliminate the need for large
from the original plain wood pins and
amounts of soap to hold the oil in
Let's face it
bushings, providing a lubrica ng film and
suspension.
Mining Equipment is designed to have parts
elimina ng contamina on between the pin
This lubricant film then separates even the
wear out while s ll maintaining the machine
and bushing has not.
highest loaded surfaces, greatly reducing the
integrity. While it is beneficial that high wear
How is Petron Corpora on different? Petron
possibility of contact wear, while the light
items can simply be replaced, it is also
has pioneered the development of specific
carrier oil washes the would-be
detrimental if these parts wear out too o en.
high viscosity lubricants that greatly reduce
contamina on out of the load zone and safely
Early wear causes loss of up me and
wear on slow moving gears, pins, and
away.
throughput, which nega vely impacts the
bushings. Tradi onally, these applica ons
company's bo om line.
were lubricated with a Mul -Purpose Grease
Wear reduc on is the key
A classic example of this would be the pins
with a soap addi ve. This soap, much like a
Today's mining equipment uses the most
and bushings used in almost all mining
sponge, holds the base oil and addi ves in
sophis cated form of bronze pin bushings,
equipment. Petron Corpora on has
suspension un l sufficient force is applied to
and their ability to reduce wear is impressive.
recognized that the tradi onal lubrica on
squeeze out the oil into the load zone. By
Even though bronze is extremely reliable and
techniques and products no longer provide
their nature Mul -Purpose Greases do not
durable, it is s ll designed to be a “wear”
the protec on needed in modern mining
flow due to their high soap content.
material. The purpose of wearing is to
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