Oil-separation properties of aviation grease under thermal aging

Abstract

During work or long-term storage, grease is susceptible to thermal oxygen or mechanical aging, which affects the performance of grease or even leads to the destruction of the structural surface of grease lubricated products. As the main mechanism of grease lubrication, grease partitioning can explore the aging law of grease and effectively identify whether the grease fails. In this paper, 7014 aerospace grease was selected as the research object and accelerated test was conducted by high temperature thermal oxygen. The combination of grease separation degree and mass change rate was selected for comprehensive characterization of grease separation performance. The results show that the grease partitioning degree has a significant decreasing trend; the quality change has also decreased and the degradation trajectory is similar to the partitioning degree; it is inferred that the main reason for the decrease of grease partitioning performance may be the loss of base oil and the change of thickener fiber structure.