ILMA Compoundings - May 2019 - 30

"When we are developing
new grease colors, we want
those colors to fit into an
existing family of products,
so they're recognizable -
product to product - as
being part of the same family."
Paul Grimes, vice president of
marketing, Lubrication Engineers
and, well, boring. They also can look very similar. In a plant
environment, where a variety of machinery requires a range
of specific greases, distinctly different colors may help ensure
that the end user can easily locate and apply the correct
grease to the correct point.
That's where colorants - the dyes and additives that can
dramatically alter the final product color - enter the picture.

GETTING COLORFUL
Afton Chemical Corp. supplies grease manufacturers/
marketers with additive packages and components that
allow their finished grease formulations to meet customers'
performance standards. For example, "the 'natural' color
for most lithium greases is amber," noted Joe Kaperick,
Afton Chemical's senior grease advisor and president of the
National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI). "But that can
be impacted by the base oil used to make it, as well as other
[factors]. Some additives, such as components containing
sulfur, can have a very dark color, which may affect the final
color of the grease it goes into.
"We do have to think about the effect our additive color
will have on the ability of the grease manufacturer to obtain
the color they desire in their finished products."
Those color choices are key in helping to establish safe
work procedures for end users. An orange grease that is to be
applied to Machine A needs to be easily distinguished from
an amber grease required for Machine B. "We want factories
to identify each grease point with a specific color and tag so
employees won't apply a wrong grease or an incompatible
grease," said Paul Grimes, vice president of marketing for
Lubrication Engineers. "People are now starting to adopt
these lubrication ID best practices."
Such internal practices are critical because, apart from foodgrade grease, which is typically white, there is no definitive
color standard that applies throughout the industry. There
might be general application similarities across the industry
for certain colors due to their common ingredients, but there

MAY 2019

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is no guarantee that one manufacturer's blue grease can be
swapped for another manufacturer's blue grease.
"I do see greases being marketed with different colors for
different applications," said Kaperick. "Red is often viewed as
'good' for high-temperature applications, while blue or green
might be better for marine usage. Some greases may be a
specific color as part of the manufacturer's branding; they may
use the color as part of their tagline - for instance, to appeal
to a customer's preference for a certain color."
Many customers may assume that a grease is inherently
blue because it is a marine grease - rather than understanding that the manufacturer chose to color it blue so it would
look appropriate for marine applications. Because of this,
if you choose to color your marine grease pink, it might be
difficult to bring customers on board.
In addition to affecting customers' perception of a grease
and its intended use, color contributes significantly to
building brand awareness and customer loyalty for a manufacturer's range of products.
"We've got around 10 to 15 color variations in our
grease line," Grimes said. "When we are developing new
grease colors, we want those colors to fit into an existing
family of products, so they're recognizable - product to
product - as being part of the same family." That idea has
affected the company's packaging as well. "The packaging is
almost consumer-like," he said, "but we did that because we
thought it would help people identify with our colors and
color schemes, which can make identifying a grease more
efficient in the factories."

CHALLENGES AND MISCONCEPTIONS
Every single ingredient in a high-performance grease brings
challenges as well as benefits. Color is no different.
Industry research and development scientist Dr. Anoop
Kumar has written that the overuse of colorants may impact
grease properties. For example, titanium dioxide and zinc
dioxide, used to color grease white, "may increase wear and
oil bleeding when used in higher concentrations," specifically concentrations of 0.1 percent or more. Similarly, higher
concentrations of other colorants may weaken a grease's
ability to prevent copper corrosion.
As customers get used to seeing certain colors in a
company's greases, it is common for them to draw strong
connections between those grease colors and grease quality.
"We seldom get complaints about new product in the
container," said Sander, "but when we have, they've typically been, 'It doesn't look right.' If the color is not right,
customers may complain," even though the quality is not
affected in any way.
According to Kaperick, that situation is not uncommon.
"Grease manufacturers tell me that up to 50 percent of the
complaints they get about grease products are that they

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