Testing Capabilities
An array of factors impact lubricant performance including the physical properties of the grease, the environmental and operating conditions of the application, and the design of the application or component itself. For many customers, actual application testing is often unfeasible as planning and executing simulated application tests in house are time consuming, costly and require experienced personnel and labs that may not be readily available.
Formulated in state-of-the-art laboratories, our products are designed with a purpose. While a specific product may find use in a variety of applications, it has often been tested to ensure it performs optimally under the typical conditions it is expected to withstand. Unlike many lubricant suppliers, we provide performance data for our greases and oils to our customers to help them select the right lubricant for their application. If we don’t have the data you’re looking for readily available, our team of highly skilled engineers will work with you to ensure the proper tests are performed.
Physical Properties
The tribological properties (effect of friction and wear) and rheological properties (study of flow under force) of a lubricant can often determine its lubricity and how long it will protect your application. Nye tests the physical properties of our lubricants to industry standard ASTM methods and can be tested to additional test methods upon request. Some of the properties we test for include:
- Kinematic Viscosity
- Penetration (NLGI Grade)
- Oil Separation
- Evaporation
- Copper Corrosion
- Dropping Point
Performance Under Simulated Conditions
It is critical to understand how a lubricant responds to the operating and environmental conditions of your application to ensure that it can properly prevent wear and corrosion for the life of the application. Utilizing Nye’s environmental chambers, tests can be simulated in environments as low as -70 °C and as high as 180 °C. Additionally, humidity capabilities in these chambers allow testing in some of the harshest conditions, such as 85 °C/ 85% relative humidity (RH).
Complimenting Nye’s environmental capabilities are test rigs specifically designed to assess various performance characteristics of the lubricants in simulated applications. These simulations include:
- Water Washout
- Water Sprayoff
- Salt Spray
- Fretting Wear Protection of Electrical Connectors & Bearings
- Torque Stability Over Time
- Vacuum Stability & Material Outgassing
- Dynamic Particle Generation
Many of these rigs can assess how the combined forces of these properties affect lubricant performance and can be customized for different geometries, speeds, and loads. Standard geometries can also be replaced with customer supplied components for even more accurate results
Application/Component Testing
It may be important to understand how the lubricant performs on a specific component or within a larger system. To support our customers, engineers in Nye’s Application Development and Validation Testing (ADVT) Lab have built custom test rigs for a variety of applications including:
- Vacuum Bearing Tribometer
- Electric Power Steering Testing Rig
- Electric Motor Efficiency Rig
We can also complete material compatibility testing to make sure our products are suitable for your specific application.
Discuss Lubricant Performance for Your Application
Nye’s experienced sales engineers will consult you in selecting the best lubricant for your application based on our existing performance test data. Want to learn more about our testing capabilities and lubrication solutions? Contact Us.
