Insights · since 2010
Notes from the bench, not the brochure.
Dated analysis for grease plants, blenders and reliability engineers — thickeners, lithium alternatives, EPR, patents as prior art, and what a test method actually measures. Written by an independent formulation practice in New Delhi.
Lithium Grease in 2026: When Calcium Sulfonate Is the Better Formula
Lithium soap still dominates Indian grease production, but battery demand, LiOH price swings and EU REACH reprotoxic labelling are pushing formulators toward…
PFAS-Free Grease: Replacing PTFE in Food-Grade and High-Temp Formulas
PTFE is a PFAS. EU restriction pressure and NSF customer requests are forcing H1 and high-temp greases off fluoropolymer solids. Calcium sulfonate…
EV Motor Bearing Grease: Why Polyurea Is Replacing Lithium Complex
EV motor bearings run faster, hotter and quieter than ICE hub bearings, and they see electrical current. Polyurea with PAO or ester…
Bio-Lubricants and VGP EALs: What Export Buyers Now Put in the RFQ
An EAL is a defined US EPA VGP category, not a marketing word. ISO 15380 (HETG/HEES/HEPG) and OECD biodegradation data are what…
EV Fluids in India 2026: e-Grease, e-Transmission and Battery Coolants
ICE engine oil volume will keep growing into the 2030s, but OEM RFQs are already asking for e-transmission fluids, dielectric coolants and…
MOSH/MOAH and NSF H1: What Food Plants Will Ask Your Grease TDS Next
NSF H1 answers incidental food contact. MOSH/MOAH limits answer mineral-oil hydrocarbon migration. A white-oil H1 grease can still fail a MOSH/MOAH customer…
Conductive Grease: Using Sulfonate to Move Charge, Not Just Rust
A 2025 filing uses a sulfonate additive to raise the electrical conductivity of a polyurea grease. That is the opposite job from…
Polyamide Grease Thickeners: A Lithium-Free Option Beyond CaSX and Polyurea
Invista’s WO 2023/242722 describes a polyamide thickener (Mw ~450–3500 g/mol, at least four amide bonds, para-substituted aromatics) claimed to match lithium or…
Ionic-Liquid Greases vs PFAS Rules: The FSI Anion Problem
WO 2024/017518 (granted US 12,612,575 in Apr 2026) puts 0.5–80 wt% ionic liquid with a bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide anion into ester or polyglycol grease.…
PAG-Urea Grease for Electric Power Steering and Brake Actuators
Kyodo Yushi’s 2025 NLGI paper proposes a new PAG oil plus urea grease for EPS and electro-hydraulic brake mechanisms — plastic compatibility,…
What Electrical Discharge Does to a Grease Film (EHD Contact)
A September 2025 Tribology International paper shows ionic-liquid conductive greases raise both dielectric strength and conductivity, and that discharge still causes film…
Nano-Additives Do Not Always Help: hBN Grease Made Electrified Bearings Worse
A 2026 Technologies paper ran hBN in lithium grease on live bearings under current. Base grease beat the nano grease: lower current…
Hybrid Calcium Greases: Lubrizol’s 2025 Answer to Lithium Complex
Fish, McCune, Clark and Dura (NLGI Spokesman Q3 2025) review anhydrous calcium and CaSX, then introduce a new hybrid calcium generation compared…
LuSC-Compliant EAL Grease: What ‘Fully Biodegradable’ Has to Survive
Valvoline’s 2025 NLGI session presented a fully LuSC-compliant high-performance biodegradable EAL grease. LuSC is the EPA’s Lubricant Substance Classification list — ingredients,…
Dielectric Nanolubricants for Bearing Current: CNT and hBN Are Not Interchangeable
A 2025 preprint on ‘programmable dielectric nanolubricants’ uses CNTs and hBN to tune dielectric behaviour against EDM pitting. The 2026 hBN bearing…