On the Steady-State Flow and Yielding Behaviour of Lubricating Greases

Abstract

Practical steady-state flow curves were obtained from different rheological tests and protocols for five lubricating greases, containing thickeners of a rather different nature, i.e., aluminum complex, lithium, lithium complex, and calcium complex soaps and polyurea. The experimental results demonstrated the difficulty to reach “real” steady-state flow conditions for these colloidal suspensions as a consequence of the strong time dependence and marked yielding behavior in a wide range of shear rates, resulting in flow instabilities such as shear banding and fracture. In order to better understand these phenomena, transient flow experiments, at constant shear rates, and creep tests, at constant shear stresses, were also carried out using controlled-strain and controlled-stress rheometers, respectively. The main objective of this work was to study the steady-state flow behaviour of lubricating greases, analyzing how the microstructural characteristics may affect the yielding flow behaviour