When it comes to choosing a multipurpose grease, is a lithium complex or a calcium sulfonate best?
Nov 1, 2016
Lithium-complex greases generally possess good stability, high-temperature characteristics and water-resistance properties. However, a careful comparison between lithium-complex and calcium-sulfonate greases reveals that calcium-sulfonate greases hold an advantage.
Article originally published on Noria.com.
In simple terms, a multi-purpose grease can be defined as a grease combining the properties of two or more specialized greases that can be applied in more than one application. For example, lithium grease can be applied both in chassis and wheel bearing applications of transport vehicles.
Traditionally, calcium greases were used for chassis, and sodium-based greases were utilized for wheel bearings. Calcium-based greases have been rated high for water resistance but poor for elevated temperatures. On the other hand, sodium-based greases better cover high temperatures but are not as good in regards to water resistance. When lithium greases emerged in the marketplace, they were found to be superior to calcium and sodium greases, and soon became the most popular multi-purpose greases in industry.
A careful comparison between lithium-complex and calcium-sulfonate greases reveals that calcium-sulfonate greases hold an advantage. Calcium-sulfonate greases out-perform lithium-complex greases both on the data sheet as well as in actual applications. The most important difference between these two types of grease is that calcium-sulfonate greases do not typically need additives to meet certain performance requirements like lithium-complex greases do.
