Testimonials
Almasol® Syntemp® Lubricant significantly reduced grease consumption and bearing failures in a Mid-West Steel Mill.
key takeaways
Challenge
Implementing measures to prevent grease hardening and carbonization can reduce bearing failures, minimize unplanned line downtime, decrease excessive grease consumption, and eliminate associated production losses.
LE solution
Almasol® Syntemp® Lubricant (9901) is a high temperature, extreme pressure, synthetic grease recommended by V.C. Vasisth for its water resistance and stability in low speed bearings without melting or separating.
Results
Testing Almasol 9901 on hearth roll bearings reduced grease consumption from 2,000 lbs to 200 lbs annually, lowered bearing temperatures by 20-40°F, and eliminated failures, leading to significant cost savings and increased production.
Customer Profile
A Mid-West Steel Mill manufacturing galvanized steel was experiencing repeated Hearth Roll bearing failures due to harsh thermal environment exposure.
Challenge
Due to extreme high thermal exposure, the commercial grade grease would harden. If not caught in time, it would carbonize, blocking the supply lines of the automatic lubrication system. This would cause the bearings to fail and shut down the entire production line.
They wanted to reduce bearing failures, expensive unplanned line downtime resulting in associated production loss, excessive grease consumption, and eliminate grease carbonization.
LE Solution
V.C. Vasisth, LE lubrication consultant recommended Almasol® Syntemp® Lubricant (9901), which is a high temperature, extreme pressure, synthetic, NLGI #2 grease, designed to be water resistant and not melt or separate in low speed bearings.
Results
As the steel travels along the production line it passes through a large Hearth (heating) system which is comprised of 72 rolls, each of which contain one water cooled bearing per side. These bearings are constantly exposed to high temperatures ranging from 175-450°F (79-232°C). Unfortunately the water system is not very reliable which makes the bearings run hot. A Farval automatic lubrication system is also utilized, but as mentioned earlier, was not properly functioning because the commercial grade grease hardened in the supply line due to the extreme heat.
The maintenance engineer chose to conduct a test on a select number of hearth rolls to determine if Almasol 9901 would perform better than the commercial grade grease they were utilizing. In order to closely monitor the performance of Almasol 9901, it was applied to the bearings manually rather than utilizing the Farval auto lubrication system.
The test was conducted for approximately 11 months with the following results:
No bearing failures were reported during the test period. Grease consumption reduced from 2,000 lbs to about 200 lbs per year. Most importantly, the bearing temperature was reduced by 20-40°F, increasing the bearing life which has resulted in major cost savings and increased production. In a post performance follow-up, it was found that there has been no Hearth roll bearing failures in two years due to lack of lubricant and or lubricant related failures.