Lanolin, also known as wool grease, possess highly beneficial properties for various technical applications, particularly as a lubricant. Thus, lanolin in industrial use is a highly valued ingredient for a variety of applictions due to its protective properties.
The versatility of lanolin has significantly expanded due to its extensive utilisation in industrial processes and a wide array of technical applications. Its presence plays a crucial role in many industrial settings, where it acts as a potent rust preventative with exceptional protective properties for ferrous metals. This highly valued quality has been recognised for centuries, even dating back to the Middle Ages when knights would coat their armour and tools with a thin layer of wool grease, ensuring their preservation up until modern times.
Leading laboratories have conducted thorough analyses confirming the protective function of lanolin, concluding that it exhibits a remarkable adhesive tendency to metal surfaces. Therefore, surpassing that of hydrocarbons. This tenacious adhesion is attributed to the polar nature of lanolin’s components.
Lanolin possesses several environmentally friendly properties, rendering it biodegradable and non-toxic. Moreover, it demonstrates compatibility with various additives. These additives enable the production of protective films with different properties regarding hardness, softness, water solubility or insolubility.
Despite being classified as a wax, lanolin exhibits all the physical properties of a grease. Its technical-grade variant serves as a cost-effective anti-friction agent in numerous technical processes, particularly those requiring high biocompatibility. Given its biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic nature, lanolin serves as an appealing alternative to mineral oils.
Lanolin offers effective protection against rust. It is recommended to use lanolin in the form of a hydrocarbon solution or a liquid derivative like lanolin oil. Moreover, low-viscosity lanolin products prove to be especially beneficial in safeguarding heavily corroded seawater tanks and ships. These products are dispersed onto the weathered surface, allowing the oil to permeate the crevices within the rust structure. This process displaces water and firmly adheres to the metal surface, resulting in the formation of a thick and durable anti-corrosive layer.
Furthermore, the remarkable infiltrating capabilities of lanolin-based anti-corrosive technical applications make them highly desirable for treating and preventing rust. Thus, lanolin-based technical applications are particularly valued for automobile parts of cherished vehicles. The low-viscosity substances can easily permeate into joints and even microscopic fissures that are particularly susceptible to corrosion caused by electrochemical processes.
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