Plastic On Plastic Lubricant

Incompatible plastic lubricant combinations often cause operating problems such as stress cracking or failure of the plastic component.

Plastic on plastic lubricant.

As with all things silicone has its dark side. It works especially well on porous items such as plastic parts but is a good lubricant on locks hinges and guns. Tips for lubricating plastic parts quick overview lubricants improve the performance and life of gears bearings slides and other plastic parts if they are formulated specifically for lubricating plastic components. Lubricants are used in plastics mainly to reduce friction between the processing machinery and the plastic materials.

This quick study contains tips that will help you choose the best lubricant for your plastic part with special notes on gears. Table 1 gives general compatibility guidelines. Standard petroleum based lubricants cannot be used for plastic gears and some plastic gears are designed to be used without lubricants. Another reason which may not be apparent is the reduction of friction between the molecules of the plastic materials.

Some plastic gears can be embedded with lubricating materials such as ptfe silicone or graphite. Because silicone oil is super slippery and minimally reactive it can lubricate most anything.