ILMA Compoundings June 2019 - 29

L

ubricants are essential to the
proper functioning of machinery
and, therefore, to the proper
functioning of our manufacturing
industry and overall economy. Given
the critical nature of effective lubrication in production operations, it's
not surprising that a large industry has
grown up around lubricants.
A significant component of that
industry is made up of metalworking
fluids (MWFs), which are also used
for anti-corrosive properties, cooling,
and finishing or polishing. According
to Grandview Research, MWFs make
up roughly one-eighth of the overall
industrial lubricants market - valued
at about $10.75 billion in 2018. That
share is expected to grow rapidly
relative to other components over the
next several years, with a compound
annual growth rate of 4.4% between
2019 and 2025.
Not surprisingly, in such a fast-paced
and growing industry, there are a number of interesting developments that
industry observers are watching closely,
from emerging technologies to government regulation. Here, we take a look
at some important trends and their
potential impact on manufacturers.

3D Metal Printing
3D printing is another area of recent
technological development and
adoption that has had important
impacts on the MWF industry, even
though the connection might not seem
obvious at first. 3D printing is a type of
additive manufacturing - material is
continuously added to create an object,
as opposed to carving, in which a larger
object is reduced to a desired shape.
3D printing is perhaps best known
for the production of polymer objects,
which are generally carbon-based and
may contain other elements such as
nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. Polymers are also conducive to the layered
construction method of 3D printing.
"Polymer" is Greek for "many parts,"

and as the name suggests, a polymer
object is made up of many similar
subcomponents.
But metals have increasingly been
seen as a viable and attractive medium
for additive manufacturing such as
3D printing, and that may well have
an impact on the MWF industry.
Cullen Hilkene, CEO of 3Diligent,
noted that up until a few years ago,
3D printing in general was primarily
focused on prototyping, with minimal potential impact on machinists.
However, 3D printing has increasingly
been used for production - including
production of metal objects.
But because 3D printing is a form
of additive manufacturing, it doesn't
require the type of lubrication that
would be needed to cut a piece of
metal out of a larger piece, for example. Hilkene said he believes the true
displacement that could come from 3D
metal printing is for casting - pouring
liquid metal into a mold - rather than
machining.
Hilkene said another potential longterm impact on the MWF industry
from 3D printing is that, as processes
improve, there will be less need for the
post-process work done by machinists
on both casts and 3D-printed pieces.
Less machining will likely mean less
demand for the fluids used in the
machining process. He emphasized,
though, that this is a potential longterm, rather than immediate, impact.

Microbial Growth
and Biocides
Manufacturers have always wanted to
keep their machines free of biological
contaminants and microbial growth.
Particularly for water-based MWFs,
these biological elements pose a
frequent challenge both to the lubricant
quality of the fluid and to the health of
the people working with them. This is
why many MWFs have various biocides
as an additive. These can include

substances such as phenol derivatives,
formaldehyde releasers and isothiazolinones, among others.
Here, the industry is faced with
few and diminishing options. Microbial contamination both degrades
MWFs and poses health risks. But
the biocides used to combat them can
themselves carry health risks as well as
environmental risks. According to the
Society of Tribologists and Lubrication
Engineers (STLE), "[R]egulations
such as the European Union's Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR)
and concerns about working with
formaldehyde-condensate biocides
are reducing the number of options
available to the MWF industry. Other
concerns are surfacing such as raw
material availability, which led to a
shortage of the widely used biocide
benzisothiazolinone (BIT) in the 2018
marketplace."

Factors Affecting
Versatility
One theme that ties these impacts
together when it comes to finding the
right metalworking fluid is versatility.

29
ILMA Compoundings June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings June 2019
