Differentiating Lubricant Performance for Railroad Journal Roller Bearings

The development and enhancement of products often requires stepping outside the bounds usually set by conventional thinking. Selecting only what is available from product catalogs using comparison of features, often limits the design engineer’s ability to maximize product value. Achieving improvements in purchased products which are offered in an assembled package can sometimes have a great impact on the overall product package’s performance. A case in point is the selection of a lubricant for bearing packages used on journals of railroad equipment. Several new lubricants were evaluated for their overall performance impact and potential to enhance the long-term performance potential of bearing packages for railroad applications. It was determined and demonstrated that certain properties of lubricants can be enhanced, but their impact on the total bearing system must be evaluated. Maximizing one performance property over another may sacrifice, needlessly, much-needed overall performance. Test results and conclusions surrounding these performance issues are presented and comparisons made for various lubricant/additive formulations. Demonstrations of antagonistic features of performance additives will be discussed.