How does MicPol® Compare to Moly and Graphite?

MicPol® is the unique, proprietary ingredient found in Interflon products. No other company has anything like it--it’s what makes us stand out above the competition.

But what is MicPol? And how does it stack up against other well-known lubrication additives, such as graphite or molybdenum disulfide (otherwise known as moly)?

The short answer is: MicPol is Interflon’s secret weapon, and it is far superior to both. Read on to find out why!

Disadvantages of graphite and moly:
Both graphite and moly are known for their ability to stand up under a heavy mechanical load. This is why they are commonly added to industrial lubricants. However, they present their own unique problems when confronted with two other very common situations: oscillation and excess moisture.

Oscillation
Oscillation simply refers to the back-and-forth motion between two surfaces. We also call it vibration. Imagine two playing cards rubbing together. If the motion is in one continuous direction, then there is no oscillation. But how often does that happen in the real world? Usually, motion will be back and forth, and it will also be repetitive.

Plates, bearings, chains… all of these undergo oscillation. The problem with graphite is that when oscillation occurs, it becomes abrasive. This is because the structure of the graphite particles will ‘flip’, presenting sharp edges instead of smooth surfaces.

What happens next is a total breakdown of equipment. You might as well throw a handful of sand into your application. This can even happen with an automatic lubrication system. You might think you’ve pre-emptively dealt with any future lube problems by installing such a system, but if any oscillation is occurring--and in a loud, busy manufacturing environment, it almost certainly is--you’re actually just making the situation worse.

MicPol handles oscillation perfectly. It has a polar bond to the surface it’s applied to, so it will not flip its position no matter what. This bond is far stronger than that provided by any other lubricant on the market--up to ten times stronger. This means Interflon lubricants last up to ten times as long. It will never become abrasive to equipment, no matter what kind of motion it undergoes.

Moisture
Moly and graphite react to moisture quite differently. Graphite actually requires a layer of moisture in order to function well. If this moisture is absent--for example, in a very dry environment, such as the desert climates of the west and southwest U.S., or even in outer space--it will again become very abrasive, quickly destroying the equipment it was meant to protect.

Moly, on the other hand, is highly susceptible to moisture. The bond between the atoms breaks down in the presence of moisture and creates sulfur. When sulfur mixes with moisture, it creates an acid that will quickly corrode anything it touches. Again, the result is the destruction of the equipment it was meant to protect.

MicPol is chemically inert. Not only will it not react with moisture, it won’t even allow moisture to penetrate. It functions equally well in both dry and wet climates. Equipment protected with MicPol will experience far less corrosion than that lubricated with moly or graphite.

Transparency
Another major drawback of lubricants with graphite is that even a tiny amount renders the lubricant completely dark. This is a problem in situations where visual inspection of components is required. It also creates an unsightly mess when it drips.

Interflon products like Fin Super or Food Lube, on the other hand, are completely clear when dry. This allows for easy visual inspection of components right through the product. One of our greases, Grease OG, also dries clear. This is a great advantage when it becomes necessary to check up on the surfaces it’s protecting.

Load
What about MicPol’s load-bearing capabilities? Here, too, it outshines the competition.

Let’s use the metaphor of a heavy piece of equipment, such as a bulldozer, going across a lawn. If you’re having work done on your property, you’ll lay down boards or metal plates to act as load distributors, so that the bulldozer doesn’t punch through the surface of your lawn and leave scars.

In this example, the weight of the bulldozer symbolizes the load placed on your equipment, and the lawn represents the surfaces you are lubricating. These load-distributing plates are performing the same function that moly and graphite do. They simply spread the weight out to prevent damage to the surface.

Now imagine that instead of load-bearing plates, you put down a layer of spheres, about the size of tennis balls. These balls represent MicPol particles. They are extremely slippery (they have the lowest coefficient of friction of any solid object on earth, in fact). Not only that, but they are actually bonded to your lawn, so that there is no way they can be rubbed or washed off. In this scenario, you don’t even have to turn the bulldozer on. You can simply push it across the surface of spheres with one hand! That’s how well MicPol lubricates.

The answer is clear: as an additive, MicPol far outshines moly and graphite. To learn more, get in touch with us today.

Special thanks to Marco Harteman, Interflon's Head of R&D, for his assistance with this article.