What is grease?
Grease is a blend of three components: a base fluid, an additive and a thickener. Base fluids include mineral oils, esters, organic esters, glycols, or silicones. Thickeners consist either of soap (lithium, sodium, calcium, barium, aluminum), inorganic non-soap (microgel, dyes, carbon black, silic gel) or an organic non-soap (urea compounds, terepthalanate, graphite, organic dyes). Additives include oxidation inhibitors, rust inhibitors, VI improvers, tackiness, perfumes, EP agents, AW agents, and moly. The right mixture of components for grease is determined by the application (operating temperatures, speeds, loads) of the equipment in question. Be careful when mixing grease with different thickeners because some thickeners are not compatible with each other. Incompatible greases may soften or stiffen or change the properties of the grease.
