Compatibility of lubricating greases

In general, mixing lubricants is not recommended from the point of view of good lubrication practice. This can lead to changes in the behaviour of the lubricant. However, for greases, this can occur for a variety of reasons, such as supply problems, the introduction of a higher performance grease, or the unification of several points to a single reference.

In such cases, it is important to ensure that mixing two greases does not cause incompatibility issues. Incompatibility occurs when two lubricating greases interact with each other, resulting in properties inferior to those of either grease separately. This can lead to machine downtime and the associated direct and indirect costs.

In critical cases, a compatibility test is essential. However, it is possible to gain an initial understanding of the compatibility between two greases by examining the miscibility of their primary components, namely the oil and the thickener.

The following tables are not intended to provide absolute certainty about the compatibility of two greases. Instead, they serve as a general guide to which oils and thickener technologies are miscible with each other, based on our experience: