Issued by : SKF / Pulp & Paper Segment

Reference : PP/100607/PGa/A
Revision : C V1.0

SKF Pulp and Paper Global segment

Recommendations on how to choose

grease and re-lubrication intervals
for bearings in paper machines

This document is for SKF internal use only

Revision Date Created by Comments

C V1.0 14/12/2010 Gachet Philippe Lub intervalles for sealed SRB
B V1.3 12/10/2010 Gachet Philippe Reviewed during P&P bearing experts meeting
Reviewed by Chistine Greubel + addition brg
B draft 27/08/2010 GACHET Philippe
storage under Martin Duval request
A Draft 23/06/2010 GACHET Philippe Draft edition

SKF France
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Société Anonyme régie par les articles 118 à 150 de la loi sur les Sociétés Commerciales - Capital 41 850 000 Euros.
R.C.S. Versailles B 552 048 837 - SIREN 552 048 837
1 Contents

1 Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 2
2 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3
3 Grease or oil ? .................................................................................................................................. 4
4 Guide line .......................................................................................................................................... 5
5 Try to keep bearing temperature below 100°C ......................................................................... 6
6 Maximum speed with grease......................................................................................................... 7
7 Try to keep value near 4, or at least in-between 2 and 4. ................................................... 8
7.1 Reminder about value for oil lub :......................................................................................... 8
7.2 Grease case .................................................................................................................................. 9
8 Type of thickener ...........................................................................................................................10
9 Grease base oil...............................................................................................................................11
10 Required grease characteristics ..................................................................................................12
10.1 Kinematic viscosity of the original oil including additives. ..............................................12
10.2 Consistency ............................................................................................................................12
10.3 Mechanical stability 100 000 strokes................................................................................12
10.4 Mechanical stability (shear stability in a roller test) ........................................................13
10.5 Mechanical stability (vibrations)..........................................................................................13
10.6 Water resistance ...................................................................................................................13
10.7 Water washout ......................................................................................................................13
10.8 Rust inhibition with artificial process water or with customer’s process water .........13
10.9 Rust inhibition with 0.5% NaCl ............................................................................................13
10.10 Rust inhibition with 3% NaCl ...............................................................................................14
10.11 Copper compatibility, 24 h at 90°C....................................................................................14
10.12 Copper compatibility, 24 h at 120°C .................................................................................14
10.13 4 ball weld load .....................................................................................................................14
10.14 4 ball wear test......................................................................................................................14
10.15 Dropping point.......................................................................................................................15
10.16 Oil Bleeding ............................................................................................................................15
10.17 SRB lubricating ability ..........................................................................................................15
10.18 Pumbabilty (feedability) .......................................................................................................15
10.19 Cleanliness .............................................................................................................................15
10.20 EP additves reaction test .....................................................................................................15
10.21 Grease service life .................................................................................................................16
10.22 Evaporation loss....................................................................................................................16
11 SKF Greases ...................................................................................................................................17
12 Re-lubrication intervals and grease quantities.........................................................................18
12.1 Manual lubrication ................................................................................................................19
12.2 Automatic lubrication ...........................................................................................................20
12.3 Relubrication intervalles for sealed SRB...........................................................................21
13 How feed the bearing? .................................................................................................................22
14 Bearing protection during standstill and storage on rolls ......................................................24
2 Introduction

The idea which made us create this document comes from the fact that there are several
solutions (oil viscosity, oil flow, oil, grease) that are adequate for one specific application.
The application engineer will go for one solution or another depending mainly on his
experience and/or the local experience and technical knowledge.
That means that for one application, SKF technical recommendations can easily differ to
one country toanother or even one organization (SD, ID..) from another.

Such situation can lead to tricky situations.

For example, the OEM contacts SKF Industrial Division to have lubrication
recommendations for a machine which has repetitive bearing failures. The end customer,
who doesn’t trust the OEM, asks SKF Service Division to give lubrication recommendations.
Service Division would recommend SKF LGEP2 with re lubrication every week, 0.2 kg
Industrial Division would recommend SKF LGWA 2 with continuous re-lubrication, 1 gram
per hour.
In fact, the two recommendations are correct (maybe one is better than the other) and
follow general recommendations of the SKF General Catalog. But customers do not always
understand why SKF recommendations differ. Who is right?

It isn’t possible to avoid this to occur, but at least we can decrease the risk of getting in
such situation by giving more precise and uniform recommendations.

This document is created to give deeper guide-lines than the handbook about bearing in
paper machines.

The following recommendations are applicable-valid for the pulp and paper industry.

.
3 Grease or oil ?

First point is to check that the operating conditions are adequate for the grease lubrication.

The main advantage of grease is to be a normal barrier to contamination, protecting, up to

a certain limit, the bearing without the need of costly and/or fictional seals. Re-lubrication
permits to new fresh grease to push away contaminated grease.

On the other hand grease lubrication has many disadvantages:

a) speed is more limited than with oil
b) how grease moves in a housing is less predictable
c) lubricant film thickness is less predictable. It’s said to be up to 2 times the one created
by pure oil of same viscosity, even more, at start up, but be around 70% after a while. Film
thickness will depend also on oil bleeding, pumping effects, replenishment etc…. How
bearings are really lubricated by grease isn’t fully known.
d) grease standard ISO tests are done with small bearings, i.e. 6204 DGBB in the ROF to
determine grease life parameters. Grease behavior in LSB roller bearing is quite different
and general catalogue recommendations for LSB SRB/CARB are more based on field
feedback and a few, too few, tests than on ISO tests.
e) due to the thickener, grease is more complex that oil and thus less predictable.
f) grease cannot be cleaned, while oil takes away contamination from the bearing and is
filtrated.
g) easy to overfill a bearing, especially with manual grease pump.
h) used greased that come out through the labyrinth may cause contamination of the
wire/felt thus the paper web.

If possible, on a paper machine, circulating oil lubrication should be chosen.

Grease can be chosen, for economical or practical reasons.

There are still bearings in the wet section that are grease lubricated. The older the
machine, the more grease lubricated bearing, even in the dryer section.

Rope pulley, doctor and most spreader roll are grease lubricated. Some very high speed
spreader rolls are oil lubricated with very small amount of oil
4 Guide line

When choosing grease and re-lubrication intervals, the following recommendations should
be followed when it is possible

1. Try to keep bearing temperature below 100°C, if not possible go for oil lubrication
2. Try to keep  value near 4, or at least in-between 2 and 4. Oil bleeding can be
more important, high kappa value might lead to choose a grease with insufficient oil
bleeding.
3. Avoid EP additives unless it is necessary
4. Grease should be able, at least, to pass (0-0) the SKF EMCOR test with artificial
process water. Greases with top anti corrosion properties pass the test with 3%
NaCl.
5. Oil bleeding DIN 51817 N: at least 1% for balls, at least 3% for roller : values given
for bearing operating temperature.
6. Use the 4.2 version of Beatemp
7. Use comparable cage’s speed for ndm calculation when outer ring is rotating.
8. Grease should follow the required characteristics for wet section/or dry section
9. Avoid grease lubrication when ndm is above recommended values in the SKF
General Catalogue 6000 E page 239
10. Without enough information, use the general re lubrication intervals formulas of
this document. Change it based on filed experience.
11. Avoid mixing greases, even with same oil and thickener….additives might be
different and react.
5 Try to keep bearing temperature below 100°C

Even if some bearings work well with grease lubrication above 100°C, we have many cases
concerning felt roll bearing in the dryer section running at 130°C with high temperature
grease, SKF shouldn’t recommend grease. Anyway, SKF recommends oil circulation for
bearings in the dryer section.

Not only high temperature decreases the re-lub intervals, increasing grease consumption,
but it also maybe creates the need for costly synthetic greases. The risk is that customer
uses less costly, less performant grease.
Another issue is that the high temperature might not make it able to have the correct 
value.

Last point, but not the less important, is that customer very often uses the same grease
for the same section. In the dryer section it is possible to have felt roll bearings running at
50°C in the basement, another running at 130°C at the top under the hood. In this case
there should be two different greases, especially because of the oil bleeding issue.
6 Maximum speed with grease

Because many customers want to run old machines faster and faster, sometimes over the
speed design, many greased LSB especially in suction rolls are running close or even above
the maximum recommended ndm for grease lubrication indicated in the SKF general
catalogue (page 239 in SKF GC 6000 E).

The maximum recommended ndm isn’t a limit above which grease lubrication cannot work.
Some SRB, grease lubricated, do run above these recommended ndm.

As a guide line, the recommendation of the SKF General catalogue should be used. Above
the indicated ndm values, SKF should recommend circulation oil instead of grease.

Unfortunately, because of the cost of the needed modification, especially with outer ring
rotation, to change from grease to circulating oil, customers often insist to have a solution
with grease lubrication and/or more information about probable operating temperatures
and risks.

There isn’t any good guide line to see up to which speed limit a bearing can operate with
grease. There too many parameters such the quantity of grease in the bearing, the type of
grease but also the running accuracy and manufacturing accuracy of the bearing and the
surrounding elements.

Nevertheless run a Beatemp and calculate L01h of the grease to have an idea. You will have
to make an estimation on what is possible based on your own experience or based on
experienced application engineer knowledge.
If the ndm (or equivalent ndm for the outer ring rotation cases : see relub chapter) is above
recommended values for grease recommend centralized lubricating grease system with
continuous feeding of very small amount of grease. If the ndm is well above the
recommended values…. You are entering the twilight zone….Good luck and don’t forget to
give feedback….
7 Try to keep  value near 4, or at least in-between 2 and 4.
7.1 Reminder about  value for oil lub :

The diagram below shows the area of risk of surface distress based on , not on . The
diagram is an old SKF diagram and can be found in the “Rolling bearing analysis” (Tedric A
Harris, 1984)
There is a relation in-between  and .  = 0.89.

 = 1.85 corresponds to = 2

As well, it is recommended in the SRB Rainbow book, in case of varying misalignment with
a SRB to have a  value above 2.

There is no known SKF study of test showing clearly what is the minimum  value to avoid
surface damages. There are only some documents that make us deduce that  = 2, as
minimum  value is a good choice.

Note that by choosing a k value in-between 2 and 4, instead of a value in-between 1 and
4, it reduces the risk to have a  value below 1 due to temperature variations in operation
and/or because input for calculation do not reflect reality and/or because of calculation
precision.
Be careful, too high k value increase viscosity friction. Note only the bearing will run at
higher temperature, but as well there is a risk that rolling element and cage are slowed
down in low loaded bearings.

7.2 Grease case

Grease is oil and a thickener. During many years only base oil viscosity was taken in
account to estimate oil film thickness. But things changes in the middle of the 90’s and
some, in SKF, started to recommend that the required  value should be doubled. This is
due of the influence of the thickener that gets in the rolling contact, the oil bleeding rate
and the replenishment. The replenishment is the phenomena of oil on rolling track side
getting on the track
In fact when a bearing is newly greased, at start up, a lot of oil and thickener gets in the
rolling contact. Compared to oil lubrication, the film thickness is much thicker. For lithium
grease, it’s just like if the viscosity of the base oil was 50 to 80% higher. Thickener and oil
will be push on the side of the track or consumed, and the film thickness will decrease.
After a while, oil quantity in the surface contact will be less than if the bearing was oil only
lubricated, leading to a film thickness that is, as very simple approach, about 70% of the
film thickness if the bearing was oil only lubricated.

That said, field experience has shown that choosing the base oil viscosity of the grease just
like if it was a oil only was still adequate. We recommend to continue as so, but keeping in
mind that the real film thickness is thinner with the risks behind in some applications,
which are rare on a paper machine

For SRB and CARB lightly loaded, with oil you can go below the requisite minimum load by
playing with the  value. This isn’t the case with grease and minimum requisite load must
follow the general catalogue recommendations. It is due to the fact that with grease there
can be more variation of the internal friction due to grease quantity in the bearing. See
TI0101/III.
8 Type of thickener

The most used and recommended grease thickener type is the lithium metal soap. This
soap is a well known thickener and a lithium mineral oil grease has a predictable behavior.
This is important since many type of thickener, like polyurea, includes different type of
polyurea type thus giving very different behaviors. It’s the same for other thickeners like
calcium sulphonate complex, which can give very good greases for PM (i.e. SKF LGHB2) but
also quite low performant greases for PM. So unless you have a good experience, or
informations on the grease, it is preferable to choose greases with a thickener that is well
known and common, like the lithium soap.

In general, the lithium soap greases have a dropping point which is somewhere around
180-200°C. This is insufficient for bearings running at high temperature in the dryer
section. A lithium complex, which has a dropping point above 250°C is then recommended.

Many calcium sulphonate complex thickeners have shown very good behavior in humid
environment. The LGHB 2 has shown outstanding anti corrosion properties (0-0 at EMCOR
test with 3% NaCl) and mechanical stability even when contaminated by water. In addition,
this type of grease has EP caracteristics without having the need of EP additives. It has
been used in several wet section, with success, increasing the service life of the bearings.
But if lithium grease has about 10% thickener, the calcium sulphonate complex greases on
the market have about 23% thickener. As result, such grease is not recommended for
bearings running at high speed : be carefull above 100 000 ndm and avoid above 200 000
ndm.

Another type of thickener that is more and more proposed is the polyurea. It’s proposed
mainly for the dry section. Polyurea grease have an issue with oil bleeding and roller
bearings are much more sensitive to insufficient oil bleeding than ball bearings. Polyurea
grease acts like an oil when it is sheared, but when it isn’t sheared, it becomes hard and
there is no or too little oil bleeding. Polyurea grease have shown very long service life with
ball bearings, but many polyurea greases show low service life in roller bearings, theses
bearings failing due to starvation. All polyurea greases do not behave the same and roller
bearings are more or less sensitive depending on the brand and the reference of the
polyurea grease.
9 Grease base oil

The grease base oil should be chosen just like if the bearing was oil lubricated at the same
operating temperature.
First choice should be mineral oil if synthetic oil isn’t needed.
For synthetic oil, avoid polyglycol because it absorbs too much water, silicone and PFPE.
Prefer PAO and SHC (PAO/Ester).
Note 1 : Polyglycols (PAG) absorb more or less, or don’t depending on the chemical
composition. In doubt avoid it…..
Note 2 : SHC is a Mobil trademark. Many other PAO do have some ester oil mixted with the
PAO to increase additive solubility and protect elastomer seals, but not all PAO have ester
oil added.
10 Required grease characteristics

The operating conditions of the bearings dictate the priorities given to the individual
performance properties of lubricating greases.
As a general guide line, this document gives required characteristics for a grease to meet
for a paper machine bearing application. It is a guide line and the choice of grease should
be taken on the exact operating conditions, if possible. The operating conditions for
papermaking machine bearings can said to fall into three basic groups represented in the
test programme by position a, b and c.

Position a represents all the grease lubricated ball and roller bearing position in the wet
section.
Position b represents rope pulleys, doctors and felt roll grease lubricated ball and roller
bearing position in the dryer section. Be careful, some bearing position in the lowest part
of the dryer section might fail due to insufficient oil bleeding if they are lubricated with
some high temperature grease.
Position c represents spreader roll in the dryer section with ball bearing operating
temperature of 100 to 140°C.

10.1 Kinematic viscosity of the original oil including additives.

Type of test : DIN 51562/1, ISO 3448 or ASTM D 2422

Required result for a: Min 175 mm²/s at 40°C
Required result for b: Min 400 mm²/s at 40°C
Required result for c: Min 220 mm²/s at 40°C

Note : Voith requirement:

Required result for a: Min 150 mm²/s at 40°C
Required result for b: Min 320 mm²/s at 40°C

10.2 Consistency

Type of test : DIN ISO 2137 or ASTM D 217

Required result for a: NLGI 2 (Big LSB : NLGI 2 like 1…..)
Required result for b: NLGI 2
Required result for c: normally NLGI 2 but sometimes NLGI 3

10.3 Mechanical stability 100 000 strokes

Type of test : DIN ISO 2137 or ASTM D 217

Required result for a: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-40
Required result for b: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-30
Required result for c: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-30
10.4 Mechanical stability (shear stability in a roller test)

Type of test : DIN 51804/2 or ASTM D1831, 50g grease, 50h at 80°C
Required result for a: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-40
Required result for b: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-30
Required result for c: Worked penetration value should not change more than +/-30

10.5 Mechanical stability (vibrations)

Type of test : SKF V2F

Required result for a: M
Required result for b: M
Required result for c: M

Note : grease with polyurea thickener do not pass this test since vibration create shear
stress and then the grease looses it’s consistency.

10.6 Water resistance

Type of test : DIN 51807/1

Required result for a: 1 max at 90°C
Required result for b: 1 max at 90°C
Required result for c: -

10.7 Water washout

Type of test : DIN 51807/2

Required result for a: Washout less than 10%
Required result for b: Washout less than 10%
Required result for c: Washout less than 20%

10.8 Rust inhibition with artificial process water or with customer’s process water

Type of test : SKF EMCOR, IP 220, DIN 51802 or ISO 11007

Required result for a: 0-0
Required result for b: 1-1
Required result for c: 1-1

10.9 Rust inhibition with 0.5% NaCl

Type of test : SKF EMCOR, IP 220 , DIN 51802 or ISO 11007

Required result for a: 0-0
Required result for b: 1-1
Required result for c: 1-1
10.10 Rust inhibition with 3% NaCl

Type of test : SKF EMCOR, IP 220, DIN 51802 or ISO 11007

Required result for a: 0-0
Required result for b: -
Required result for c: -

Note : this requirement is really severe and many greases do not pass this test with 0-0 as
result. A 1-1 can be accepted depending on the other tests and the real operating
conditions.
The SKF LGHB 2 passes the test but isn’t always suitable for the wet section due to it’s
limited ndm, it’s high viscosity and poor oil bleeding at low/medium temperature.

10.11 Copper compatibility, 24 h at 90°C

Type of test : DIN 51811, IP 112 or ASTM D4048

Required result for a: 1
Required result for b: -
Required result for c: -

10.12 Copper compatibility, 24 h at 120°C

Type of test : DIN 51811, IP 112 or ASTM D4048

Required result for a: -
Required result for b: 1
Required result for c: 1

10.13 4 ball weld load

Type of test : DIN 51350/4

Required result for a: equal or higher than 2800 N
Required result for b: equal or higher than 2800 N but grease must pass the EP reaction
test
Required result for c: equal or higher than 2800 N but grease must pass the EP reaction
test

10.14 4 ball wear test

Type of test : DIN 51350/3 (1400N) or ASTM D2266

Required result for a: 0,8 mm max
Required result for b: 0,8 mm max
Required result for c: 1,0 mm max
10.15 Dropping point

Type of test : DIN ISO 2176 or ASTM 2265

Required result for a: 180°C min
Required result for b: 250°C min
Required result for c: 250°C min

10.16 Oil Bleeding

Type of test : DIN 51817 or (IP121 ?)

Required result for a: min 1% at 40°C and max 10% at 80°C
Required result for b: min 3% at 80°C and max 12% at 120°C
Required result for c: min 3% at 100°C and max 15% at 140°C

Note, if the real operating conditions are known, oil bleeding, for roller bearings should be
at least 3% at operating temperature.
For b, operating temperature can be very different depending of the bearing position. The
bearings in the lowest position might be better lubricated with a grease for a.

10.17 SRB lubricating ability

Type of test : SKF R2F

Required result for a: rating 1 with procedure A (unheated)
Required result for b: rating 1 with procedure B (at 120°C)
Required result for c: -

10.18 Pumbabilty (feedability)

Type of test : No normalized test

Procedure for testing under discussion with SKF Lubricating system

10.19 Cleanliness

Type of test : DIN 51813

Required result for a: max. 5mg/kg
Required result for b: max. 5mg/kg
Required result for c: max. 5mg/kg

10.20 EP additves reaction test

Type of test : SKF test 24h at 160°C

Required result for a: -
Required result for b: rating 0
Required result for c: rating 0
Test description :

In the EP-reaction Test, cylindrical rollers RC-17 x 17, RC-17 x 17 C or RC-17 x 17 CP made from carbon
chromium steel are exposed for 24h to the grease at a temperature of 160°C. After this thermal stress and
cleaning of the rollers, the appearance of the rollers immerged in the grease is evaluated. Evaluation is carried out
by visual inspection and indication of the rating index (= roller index). Definition of the roller index can be seen
from table 1.

Apart from roller evaluation, the lubricating grease aged during the test is also inspected and evaluated for its
ageing condition. Change of consistency and the appearance are determined.

Test procedure :
2 rollers each, cleaned with tetrachloroethylene, dried using an oven and cooled down to room temperature, are
placed in a porcelain bowl, which already contain the testing grease. One roller is completely immersed in grease
the other one only partly. The bowl is kept in a drying closet for 24h.

After 24h the rollers are removed from the bowl and cleaned carefully with tetrachloroethylene.

In order to avoid further corrosion of the degreased rollers, it is recommended to store the rollers in a plastics
pouch provided with a strip of VCI paper.

rating description
0 metallic, no change
1 light temper colour
2 heavy temper colour
3 etched surface
4 corrosion

table 1: evaluation of EP-reaction test

10.21 Grease service life

Type of test : SKF ROF at 140)C

Required result for a: -
Required result for b: -
Required result for c: min. 1000 h

10.22 Evaporation loss

Type of test : SKF Schweinfurt test method PS 1061432-10

Required result for a: -
Required result for b: TBD
Required result for c: TBD
11 SKF Greases

SKF has a large range of grease. Most of these greases can be used to lubricate bearings
on paper machines. All depends on the operating conditions and how the grease is supplied
to the bearing. Even the LGMT2 can be used, if the operating conditions are adequate.

As a guide line, some SKF greases should be avoided:

SKF LGMT 3
SKF LGEP 2 (due to issues in centralized lubricating systems)
SKF LGHP 2 (except for ball bearing)
SKF LGFP 2
SKF LGGB 2
SKF LGET 2
SKF LGEM 2
SKF LGEV 2
SKF LGWM 1

As a guide line, it is better to propose one of these greases, based on operating conditions:
SKF LGHB 2
SKF LGWA 2
SKF LGMT 2
SKF LGWM 2
SKF LGEP 2 (if manual re-lubrication)
SKF LESA 2 (for very high speed, but low anti corrosion protection, no information about
grease behavior in centralized lub systems)

For the moment, there is no SKF grease that SKF could propose as paper machine grease.
By marketing a grease as a paper machine grease, it would mean that SKF sales force, SKF
DD and even customer could, unfortunately, without checking if the grease is adequate for
the bearing and the running conditions, use/recommend the grease to lubricate bearing in
paper machines.

The segment is searching a grease that could fulfill the required characteristics for the wet
section (position a). Such grease would be marketed as grease for the wet section.
For the dry section, the SKF LGHB 2 could be a good candidate, it was indeed
recommended in the old rolling bearings in paper machine handbook. But it’s limited ndm
cannot make it be “the” grease for the dryer section for all paper machines. If most of the
bearings in the dryer part of modern machine are oil lubricated, we must remember that
many old machines are today running above their designed speed.
12 Re-lubrication intervals and grease quantities

Re-lubrication intervals must take into account two criteria:

1) Grease nominal life L01h
2) Contamination

As the bearing arrangements in the wet section of the paper machines have wet
environment, there is often a need for shorter relubrication intervals than those indicated
in the SKF General Catalogue. But in some cases, especially with old machine running
above designed speed, the L01h of the grease could be lower than the recommended
relubrication interval given as guide line.
For LSB running at high speed, the L01h of the grease should always be calculated and
compared to the recommended re-lubrication interval given as a guide line. The lowest re-
lubrication interval value should be taken.

Note that for ndm calculation when the outer ring is rotating, the SKF General Catalogue
recommends to take the nD instead of the ndm. For better accuracy it is better to calculate
ndm with inner ring speed such as the cage speed remains the same as for when the outer
ring rotates.
Use formula : nm = 0,5 ni (1-(Dwcos/dm)) + 0,5 ne (1+(Dwcos/dm))
nm = cage speed
ni = inner ring speed
ne = outer ring speed

Example : 23080 with outer ring rotating at 800 rpm

dm = 506,266 mm
Dw = 50,00 mm
= 8,583 degres
ni = 0 and ne = 800 rpm
=> nm = 439,06 rpm
Now suppose ne = 0 and calculate ni
=> ni = 973 rpm
=> equivalent ndm = 492 675
If the SKF General catalogue was followed : nD = 480 000.

The relubrication intervals and quantities given as guide line are based on general
experience about bearing in paper machine. They are guide lines and should always be
adjusted according to practical experience to avoid contamination (process water) to reach
the bearing and avoid that used grease leaks from sealing in too high quantities, leading to
possible contamination of the wire, felt or paper web.
Guide lines:

12.1 Manual lubrication

Manual lubrication isn’t recommended in the dryer section because of the difficulty in
reaching all the positions during operation.

Re-lubricate once a week bearings in the wet section with a quantity of grease equal to
0.002 D B grams. D is the bearing outside diameter and B is the bearing width in mm.

Re-lubrication should be done while bearing is in rotation.

If so, for example with a SRB, the grease will fill first the space between the two roller
rows and then distribute itself along the two rows of rollers.
If not, the fresh grease will try to get trough or out the bearing by the easiest way and will
not distribute in a homogeneous way itself in the bearing.

It is also recommended to re-lubricate the bearings just before the machine stop to renew
to grease in the bearing and reduce the risk of standstill corrosion

SRB lubricated during standstill :

SRB lubricated while in rotation:

Relubrication once a mounth is recommended for bearings in damp position such as in

calenders, reelers, winders etc….. The equation becomes then 0.003 D B instead of 0.002
D B.

12.2 Automatic lubrication

Automatic lubrication with centralized lubrication system is highly recommended to ensure

that the correct amount of grease is brought to the bearing in the correct quantity.
It is also better to push out continuously but slowly the contamination.

Another important point is about the LSB running at high speed in paper machines running
above their design speed. Most of these bearings are still grease lubricated, and run near
the recommended limit for grease lubrication. Theses bearings are very sensitive to re
lubrication with a too large quantity of grease. The operating temperature might increase
too much. The only way to lubricate theses LSB with grease is to bring continuously very
small quantities of grease

Whatever is the bearing position, and without taking in consideration the real operating
condition of the bearing (be careful of LSB rotating at high speed) the equation giving the
quantity of grease, in grams, is :
G = H x 0.00001 D B
G = grease quantity every H (interval)
H = re-lubrication interval, hours.

For the dryer section, the quantity is the same for the wet section, but it is supposed that
high temperature grease is used for the dryer section.
12.3 Relubrication intervalles for sealed SRB

Integrated seals on SRB are to add another protection against contamination. If the sealed
SRB are used to reduce grease replenishment quantities or/and intervals, process or
cleaning water could get in the housing, corroding shaft, bearing seats, nuts etc…. It
mustn’t be forgotten that fresh grease injected in the housing/bearing has also the role to
push out contamination and replace contaminated grease in the labyrinths.

It is recommended to keep same relubrication intervals as for opened SRB.

13 How feed the bearing?

Fresh grease must lubricate the bearing and push away used grease. In the same time the
grease must push away the contamination from the labyrinth seal. Unfortunately, standstill
old grease in the housing can fill the free space around the bearing and/or solid
contamination can react with grease to create a semi solid or solid paste that reduces the
free passage in the labyrinth. Position of the grease inlet in the housing must be chosen
with care.

Example :

Normally, with a SRB, it is recommended to lubricate through the W33 as shown on this
drawing:

The advantage is that fresh grease is brought directly in the middle of the bearing.
Unfortunately, it isn’t sure that grease escape equally on both sides. During the first period
the grease will prefer to go to the left free space than going in the labyrinth to push away
contamination and/or contaminated grease. During the second period, when the free
space, cover side, is full of grease is more likely to go through the right roller row and go in
the labyrinth. What happens exactly around the left roller row isn’t really known.

By placing the grease nipple in another position:

The grease can only go one way and it’s behavior is more predictable. The only drawback is
that the cover must be filled of grease (be aware : too much grease can make the bearing
overheat) after mounting otherwise the first re lubrication will be useless, just filling the
empty free space. In this case, after mounting the housing must be fed with grease while
rotating the roll, until fresh grease can be seen coming out the seal.

Another solution is to make the possibility for the grease to escape on both sides of the
SRB, by drilling a hole and lubricate it through the W33.

But if the hole is too big, grease will prefer to get out through the hole instead of by the
labyrinth.
In this last drawing, just one grease nipple could be positioned on the outer cover and have
no escape hole between the bearings. Based on bearings dimensions and relubrication
intervals, the grease going through the small CRB is likely to lubricate correctly the SRB
afterwards.
Position of the grease nipple can lead to endless discussions.
But what must be kept in mind is that many configurations have been successful in the
past. Some could claim that a configuration has worked well during decade. But most of
these configurations were on slow to medium speed machine. The higher the machine
speed is, the more sensitive are the bearings to grease overfill, slight starvation etc…. That
means that successful configurations of the past might not be adequate today.

14 Bearing protection during standstill and storage on rolls

Standstill precautions

Despite the use of water extractors, many oil lubrication systems have small quantities of
free water, especially in the forming and press section. Grease lubricated bearings also
may have free water in the lubricant.
The highest risk of water ingress probably occurs during high-pressure cleaning of
machine frames, wires and felts. Free water in the lubricant, especially water mixed with
cleaning chemicals, will rapidly start a corrosion process on bearing surfaces when the
machine is at a standstill. There are some different ways of avoiding such corrosion:

• never direct the high pressure spray nozzle towards the sealing gap
• keep the water outside the bearing by more efficient seals
• replace the contaminated lubricant by fresh and clean lubricant

The last alternative is the one most commonly used method for grease lubricated bearings.
Fresh grease is injected just before closing down, while bearings are still rotating.

How to store spare bearings

Used bearings
Papermills have a number of spare rolls in their roll store. Some of these rolls like suction,
press and calender rolls are regularly reground and replaced in the machine, while others
are only stored for security reasons. The latter type of rolls can be stored for a long time.
Before taking out a roll from the machine it is normally high pressure cleaned. The roll is
then stored, often for several weeks, before regrinding. During this period there is a great
risk of corrosion if water is present in the housing.
When the roll has been taken out from the machine our recommendations on actions
below should be followed. However, by experience we know that this is often not done
before the regrinding resulting in bearing corrosion. Therefore, to be on the safe side,
grease lubricated bearings should be regreased during rotation, after the cleaning
procedure, just before the machine is stopped. Note that the grease quantity must be large
enough to press out all contaminated grease. If the cleaning of the rolls happens outside
the machine, it is important to cover the seals so no water can enter through the seals.
How to store spare bearings

For bearings that are going to be stored for a lengthy period we recommend the following
actions:

• in the case of grease lubricated bearings, dismount the bearing housings and remove all
old grease from the bearings and the housings
• if possible, dismount the bearings from the journals
• wash the bearings with a very thin clean oil
• inspect the bearings to ascertain whether or not they can be used for further service in
the machine
• remount the bearings and the housings
• lubricate and protect the bearings against corrosion. This can be done with the same
lubricant that is used in the machine.
• if possible, place the roll in a store where it is supported by the bearings and subjected to
perpetual rotation.
• bearings that are to be stored under static conditions : grease lubricated bearings can be
packed with fresh grease having good anti corrosion properties