Vermiculite as a component of thread lubricants

Abstract

Thread lubricants are used in threaded joints of piping and pump/compressor equipment of drilling units in order to protect the threads against wear and galling during the operations of making up and breaking the joints; the lubricants also serve as a seal against the pressure of liquid and gaseous media. Commercial thread lubricants contain fillers to provide the required level of antigalling, antiwear, and sealing properties. Powders of lead, copper, zinc, and their compounds are widely used as fillers; other materials that are used include finely dispersed molybdenum disulfide and polytetrafluoroethylene. The concentrations of these components in commercial thread lubricants may be as high as 60-70%,{sup *} so that the lubricants are quite expensive. Lead compounds have the further disadvantages of toxicity, requiring special protective measures in the production, storage, and application of the lubricants - i.e., these materials are ecologically hazardous. Production of specialized thread lubricants is limited by shortages of fillers, and hence general-purpose greases are almost universally used in threaded joints - greases that are inferior to thread lubricants in their set of tribotechnical properties. The end results are premature wear and leakage of the joints, losses of oil and gas, and environmental pollution. In this connection,more » it is of interest to use layered minerals, in particular vermiculite, in thread lubricant formulations. Heat-treated and milled vermiculite, which has a structure similar to graphite, is resistant to oxidation and to attack by corrosive media; it has a high upper temperature limit of serviceability as a lubricant, and it is readily available and inexpensive. Major reserves of vermiculite have been explored in the Kola Peninsula (Kovdor deposit), in the Urals (Potaninsk and Buldymsk deposits) and in Siberia (Sludyanka deposit).« less