This paper aims to find a desirable new thickener for producing lithium grease.To here this end, a lithium grease was prepared using self-made 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid (DHSA) as the thickener.Then, the properties of the DHSALi-based grease were compared with the traditional lithium grease prepared from 12-hydroxystearic acid (HSA).
Additionally, the differences between the two greases were discussed considering molecular structure and grease-oil gel dispersion.The results show that the DHSALi-based grease outperformed the traditional grease in terms of shear stability, consistency, dropping point, colloidal stability, wear resistance and antifriction property, despite its poor shear stability.The research proves that DHSALi is here a desirable raw material of grease thickener.