Grease composition and process for production thereof

Abstract

In this grease composition, a grease produced by mixing at least one base oil selected from a mineral oil-type lubricant base oil, a synthetic lubricant base oil, and a biodegradable lubricant base oil with a thickener is compounded with a wax and water, and an additive such as a surfactant and a defoamer is optionally compounded therewith. A soap containing a calcium sulfonate complex is used as the thickener. A carnauba wax is preferably used as the wax. Since this grease composition is mainly composed of a grease and a wax, the grease composition extremely facilities its removal operation after application, is environmentally friendly, and has extremely excellent anti-corrosion performance. When the grease composition is used by being applied to a base material of an object to be welded, an effect of preventing the adhesion of welding spatters can be obtained.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates to a grease composition in which a grease is compounded with at least a wax and water as well as a process for production thereof. The grease composition of the invention is not only useful as a grease having the functions of rust prevention, mud prevention, anti-fouling, lubrication, and the like for element parts requiring environmental countermeasures but also suitable for use in preventing welding spatters from adhering to an object to be welded such as a steel product.BACKGROUND ARTConventionally, as far as grease compositions are concerned, in order to impart a rust preventing capability, it is necessary to apply a very large amount of grease. Since the adhesivity of the grease to a member to which it is applied is low, the grease is likely to scatter to the surroundings due to the rotary motion, reciprocating motion, and the like. For this reason, environmental consideration has been required in the use of greases.Meanwhile, as mat...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The grease composition and the process for production thereof according to the present invention, employ a thickener (for example, a calcium sulfonate complex) having an excellent rust preventing capability, as described above, and are therefore able to possess a high rust preventing capability due to its effect. Further, by virtue of the wax, adhesive power to a steel product becomes strong, and it is therefore possible to prevent the scattering of the grease composition.

Since water is used as a base in order to obtain a paste form, the grease composition can be made a non-solvent based grease composition. For this reason, the risk of catching fire is practically nil, and handling and applicability to a steel product are facilitated. Since the grease and the wax are principal components, by using a solvent such as methylene chloride, it is possible to provide a grease composition whose removal operation is extremely simple, and which is environmentally friendly as well.

The calcium sulfonate complex which is used as the thickener possesses extremely excellent surface pressure characteristics, and therefore the grease composition can be used for a gear and the like as a lubricant without the grease composition being removed.

On the other hand, in a case where the grease composition in accordance with the invention is used as a welding spatter adhesion preventing grease (namely, a welding spatter adhesion preventing agent), since it is a non-solvent based welding spatter adhesion preventing agent (liquid) using water as a base, as described above, there is no possibility of such as catching fire due to the effects of high temperature and high heat generated during welding. Hence, a coating operation or the like with respect to an object to be welded, for example, can be performed safely with ease. Since the grease composition is produced as a liquid having as its principal components a grease and a wax in addition to water, workability at the welding site and the environmental feature excel, and the effect of prevention of the adhesion of spatters can be enhanced sufficiently.

Further, the spatter adhesion preventing agent having the grease and the wax as its principal components can be easily removed by using a solvent such as methylene chloride or kerosene, light oil, or the like, making it possible to easily perform the operation of removing that spatter adhesion preventing agent after completion of the welding operation. The wax is necessary for suppressing the occurrence of stickiness and the like when the spatter adhesion preventing agent is applied to the surface of a base material (object to be welded) and is dried.

As for the spatter adhesion preventing agent, since the calcium sulfonate complex, for example, is used as a thickener of the grease, the spatter adhesion preventing agent is able to enhance the spatter adhesion prevention performance due to its effect. The adhesive power to a steel product (object to be welded) becomes strong by virtue of the wax, so that it is possible to obtain the scattering prevention effect in the state in which the spatter adhesion preventing agent consisting of a liquid is applied. Namely, it was confirmed that this spatter adhesion preventing agent allows a film of the calcium sulfonate complex to be formed on the applied surface during drying after application, and that this film exhibits high performance in preventing the adhesion of spatters. In terms of its hardness, this spatter adhesion preventing agent unlike a conventional one can be made soft and is easy to remove before its solidification, and it was possible to improve its removal performance.

Problems solved by technology

Meanwhile, as materials having rust preventability equivalent to that of grease, anti-corrosion oils have been used from olden times. However, most of the anti-corrosion oils are of the solvent diluted type, and various problems have occurred such as the problem of catching fire in the presence of a flame, environmental problems due to volatile solvents, the method of discarding, and the like.

For this reason, although the anti-corrosion oils excel in the rust preventing capability, the removing operation thereof is frequently difficult, and adverse effects are also exerted on the quality of products.

For this reason, an effect in the degree of precision is exerted on the fastening of a mounting member to a mating member, and the surface preparation becomes nonuniform at the time of application of the grease, so that, in fact, the problem occurs, among others, that the quality in the application of the grease declines.

If this is left as it is, irregularities due to the spatters remain on the surface of the object to be welded, and the commercial value of the welded product unfavorably declines.

Meanwhile, as for welding spatter adhesion preventing agents based on the prior art, a non-aqueous type, for instance, uses an organic solvent, is therefore odorous and toxic, and is likely to constitute a cause for aggravating the environment of a work site.

Also, the non-aqueous type is susceptible to the effect of heat generated during the welding operation, and produces such as the environmental problem due to the organic solvent, the problem of disposal, and so forth.

However, the aqueous type preventing agent has a problem in performance in that its effect of preventing the adhesion of the spatters to an object to be welded is not necessarily sufficient.

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