Lubricants for Plastics Manufacturing
Unlock the potential of plastics manufacturing
Achieve efficiency & exceptional results for your plastic injection moulding machines. Effective lubrication plays a key role in maintaining efficiency and reducing energy consumption in plastic injection moulding machines. That's why Shell provides high-performance lubricants to unlock the potential of plastics manufacturing and achieve exceptional results for your plastic injection moulding machines. Keep your systems operating at peak performance with products and services that enhance equipment efficiency and helps to increase operational sustainability.
We meet OEM standards. Shell’s extensive range of OEM approvals spans multiple sectors and applications, offering compatibility and confidence where it matters most.
The productivity and efficiency boosts are hiding in your hydraulic oil. Lubricants play a vital role in helping extend the life of injection moulding machines. They can also deliver a significant reduction in a plant’s energy consumption. In injection moulding, hydraulic oil is the lifeblood of the machine, tasked with transmitting power mechanically throughout the system, often in 24/7 operations. In doing so, it is exposed to high pressure, fluctuations in temperature and contaminants, such as water and air.
Why invest in high quality hydraulic oil? A good hydraulic oil should therefore be able to cope with typical application challenges such as wear, corrosion and oil leaks, oxidation and thermal breakdown and build-up of sludge and varnish. Since hydraulic oil accounts for a fraction of the maintenance budget, investing in high quality hydraulic oil may not seem like a top priority for a plastics production plant. But the long-term savings can be significant when considered in light of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): the total amount spent on industrial equipment, including both the cost of acquisition and of operation over its entire working life.
- Protection against wear
- Oxidation resistance and thermal stability
- Hydrolytic stability and filterability
- Greater energy efficiency and less energy loss from hydraulic pumps
Reducing costs and improving energy efficiency
Selecting the right lubricant, together with harnessing support from specialist technical services such as Shell LubeAnalyst, is critical for improving productivity and helping to realise significant TCO savings. It can also deliver energy savings and a resulting reduction in carbon emissions, which can contribute towards your company’s sustainability targets.
The Critical Role of Hydraulic Oil
Download our infographic to discover the four critical benefits that an effective hydraulic oil can have for your business (PDF, 225 kB).
Sludge and Varnish: The Hidden Productivity Killers of Injection Moulding Operations
For plastic injection moulding, productivity is a priority. Any unplanned downtime caused by equipment breakdown impacts directly on your bottom line, placing delivery deadlines at risk and incurring costs from maintenance and unused labour.
At the heart of these machines lies the hydraulic system, where hydraulic fluid plays a vital but often underestimated role, with between 50 and 70 per cent of mechanical failures related to ‘improper hydraulic fluid condition’, often as a result of sludge and varnish build-up. Though most standard Oil Condition Monitoring (OCM) tests can help screen for problems such as ineffective corrosion protection, they cannot detect the build-up of sludge and varnish, because soft contaminants don’t typically impact the bulk chemistry of the hydraulic fluid, making them difficult to measure.
Equipment failures can then occur, with the resulting unplanned downtime and necessary oil change impacting finances greatly. Additionally, short oil-drain intervals are expensive not only in terms of the oil cost but also oil waste costs.
Poor-quality hydraulic fluids are more susceptible to this problem as they readily oxidise in the presence of yellow metals, water and air contamination. They also contain additives that are not thermally stable and so decompose at elevated temperatures.
Avoiding unplanned downtime and unexpected costs
The best way to avoid this is to use a high-quality hydraulic fluid which has high oxidation resistance and excellent thermal stability, helping to mitigate the risk of sludge and varnish build-up while lowering the operator’s Total Cost of Ownership*.
The Shell Tellus range of hydraulic fluids has been specifically formulated to meet the demands of modern hydraulic systems by:
- resisting thermal and chemical breakdown
- providing enhanced reliability and system cleanliness
- mitigating breakdown risk and its associated costs
A high-quality hydraulic fluid, with high oxidation resistance and excellent thermal stability, can help mitigate the risk of sludge and varnish build-up while lowering the operator’s Total Cost of Ownership.
* Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is defined by Shell Lubricants as the total amount spent on industrial equipment, including cost of acquisition and operation over its entire working life, including costs of lost production during equipment downtime.
Maintaining Peak Performance
The three most important building blocks of success for plastic injection moulding operations?
Explore our Lubricants for Plastics Manufacturing
Shell Tellus – Hydraulic Oils
Shell Tellus fluids are designed to provide robust protection for your Shell Tellus system and help you to reduce incidence of equipment failure.
Shell Tellus S4 VE
Find out how you can extend equipment life, lower your maintenance costs and boost hydraulic performance with the latest oil technology.
Shell Corena - Compressor Oils
Explore our range of Shell Corena compressor oils, proven to help reduce your operational costs without compromising protection.
Shell Omala – Gear Oils
Keep your gears turning with Shell Omala gear oils that meet the demands of the most advanced OEM gearbox designs.
A real-world example
Pilsa Plastic Products Inc.
The Challenge:
Pilsa Plastic Products Inc., a leading plastic manufacturer in Turkey, was facing issues with their compressor lubricant. The oil analysis showed that the lubricant didn't have the required thermal and oxidation stability. As a result, the company had to change the oil every 5,000 hours, which increased maintenance costs and reduced operational efficiency.
The Solution:
After closely monitoring and analyzing the performance of the existing oil through the Shell LubeAnalyst Oil Condition Monitoring (OCM) program, the Shell technical team identified an opportunity for improvement. They recommended switching to Shell Corena S4 R 68, a high-performance lubricant designed to enhance efficiency and reduce maintenance. Additionally, the team provided comprehensive training on proper handling and application, ensuring a smooth transition and optimized performance moving forward.
Using Shell Corena S4 R 68 led to a 50% reduction in operational costs and doubled the oil-drain intervals from 5,000 to 10,000 hours. This, combined with lower oil consumption, reduced labor costs, and less oil waste, resulted in annual savings of $12,185.1
1 Please note, these savings are specific to the current site and calculation date, and may vary depending on factors such as application, operating conditions, equipment condition, and maintenance practices.
Discover our Services for Plastics Manufacturing
The Shell LubeAdvisor service is delivered through highly trained Shell technical staff consisting of office-based technical helpdesks and field-based lubrication engineers. In addition, there are a number of helpful and convenient tools for you to use, with the complete Shell LubeAdvisor service offering you a wealth of engineering, technical and application knowledge.