Development of European grease lubricants stabilized for long-term storage

To develop formulation of European grease for applications in space mechanisms, stabilized for at least 15 years of long-term storage under cleanroom conditions.

Lessons learnt on the use of grease lubricants for applications in space mechanisms confirm their high chemical stability on long-term storage (LTS), due to intrinsic inertness of their fluorocarbon-based components which could be affected only via catalytic effect of metal compounds. What is observed even in widely used space-qualified greases is physical delamination leading to separation of the base oil and the solid filler. This delamination affects the lubricant?s viscosity and dielectric properties. Availability of a stabilization strategy would be beneficial for projects where satellites are launched in constellation and long-term storage on-ground is required. Stabilization strategy could involve use of suitable additives.The activity encompasses the following tasks:- Literature / market screening. Definition of requirements and formulation strategy- Development and testing of preliminary formulations. Choice of the final formulation- Full testing of the final formulation, including accelerated ageing. Comparison with the selected benchmarks already used in space industryThe foreseen benefits include: development of a European grease for space mechanisms (promoting European independence and obsolescence risk mitigation), improvement in lubricants? stability in on-ground long-term storage.