Krytox

[JackOfDiamonds]

If you aren't acquainted with Krytox grease and oil, you might not know how awesome they are.

• Rated for use from below -73 °C (-99 °F) to above 360 °C (680 °F). You could literally use it inside a cooking oven, and it wouldn't drip or smoke or anything. Outer space application? No problem
• Compatible with vacuum systems, won't vaporize, outgas or leave films
• Food grade
• Non-flammable, and compatible with oxygen and corrosive gases
• Compatible with all plastic and o-ring materials

About the only downside is you can't get the stuff off something once you put it on. It does not mix with normal solvents, so unless you have special fluorinated solvents, you can't wash it off with acetone, brakleen, or anything; you have to sandblast it off. Which in some applications, might be what you want.

It comes in oils of increasing viscosity like 102, 103, 104 in increasing viscosity, and grease in 200s like 204, 205, 206 in increasing viscosity. The 205 grease seems to be the popular one.

That's all amazing, so I've always wanted to buy some. You can buy tubes of it from Amazon, but given all that, does anyone actually use it? It seems like it would be the perfect thing for guns.

 

[seber]

Sixty dollars an ounce and not compatible with gun oil makes that a hard no for me.

 

[Rinspeed]

Sixty dollars an ounce and not compatible with gun oil makes that a hard no for me.

I've purchased cleanroom grease before that was $1200 for a small tube.

 

[rlitman]

...It comes in oils of increasing viscosity like 102, 103, 104 in increasing viscosity, and grease in 200s like 204, 205, 206 in increasing viscosity. The 205 grease seems to be the popular one...

The 0 in the middle is straight product. If you replace the 0 with a 2, you get the version that has corrosion inhibitor added.

I've got a bunch of the stuff. It's pretty good, but I would be wary about food contact. The oil is a "forever liquid" (PFPE), and the grease is just that oil with lots of PTFE particles suspended in it to thicken it. Also, it can separate just like any ordinary grease.

I use it for a few reasons.
1) It's not at all volatile. You put a dab of it somewhere, it won't ever evaporate or thicken
2) Better compatibility with rubber and plastic than anything else, silicone included. In particular, I use it on rubber plumbing seats where it outlasts silicone at least 2:1, and on plastic parts where I can't risk an incompatibility and where only the slightest film can be enough to make a big difference.

 

[scooby074]

Yes its amazing. Yes its expensive! Im really only familiar with Krytox in Oxygen service. Much more familiar with Dow Molykote's products, also amazing, also expensive.

Turns out that Krytox and Molykote have an intertwined history. Molykote, Dow, Corning, Dupont, Chemours . All a bunch of chemical company interbreeding, divestitures and acquisitions.

 

[134k]

If you work in the semiconductor industry, Krytox is the standard do-all grease for everything. At every fab, there's a vidmar consumables room, and the large tubes are "free" for the taking. I've amassed a small collection of large and small tubes, along with the special jars. I still have a tube left from those days. I think the grease is overkill for most everything outside special industry.

 

[ericm]

I use it for high end bicycle freewheels.

 

[LXCam]

I’ve never heard of it. Thanks for the education guys, this sounds like something to have handy for a rare occasion.

 

[dnschmidt]

If you work in the semiconductor industry, Krytox is the standard do-all grease for everything. At every fab, there's a vidmar consumables room, and the large tubes are "free" for the taking. I've amassed a small collection of large and small tubes, along with the special jars. I still have a tube left from those days. I think the grease is overkill for most everything outside special industry.

Right you are!! The liquid variety is used on vacuum pumps as it has virtually zero outgassing. The semiconductor industry couldn't exist without it as almost all of our processes require very high vacuums. We used it by the gallon at Westinghouse R&D Center and I can only guess at how much that cost. No doubt we got a volume discount from Dupont.

 

[Steve_P]

Not sure if there are multiple formulas, but I'm familiar with the Krytox grease used in high vacuum environments. It's about the only thing that can be used. It's ridiculously expensive. It's fine for lubricating o-rings.

However, compared to normal lubricants, that we use in the "real world", it's absolutely terrible in a high-pressure application like an Acme screw and nut. We had a system inside a high vacuum device and had audio of the screw and nut during motion and could hear the groaning during movement as the screw destroyed the bronze nut. The amount of wear just from minimal testing was staggering and orders of magnitude above that of a high moly grease. We quickly moved on to a ball screw and saved the Krytox grease for o-rings.

I wouldn't buy Krytox on Amazon, I'd buy it from McMaster Carr or a reputable industrial supplier.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

We use it in our axle boots in endurance racing. Fantastic stuff. Impossible to clean off though lol.

 

[Blickus]

I worked for DuPont in the plant that made it originally. The cost is somewhat justified, very expensive raw materials, difficult manufacturing processes in expensive equipment.

Was good to know the guys in that building, always got small tubes (rejects with misprinted, skewed labels).

They did a trial run of oil in an Indy car engine. Engine failed and dumped oil on the track. As said above, the specific solvent to clean it was tried. Had to mill and repave a section of the track.

 

[Hakeem]

I worked for DuPont in the plant that made it originally. The cost is somewhat justified, very expensive raw materials, difficult manufacturing processes in expensive equipment.

Was good to know the guys in that building, always got small tubes (rejects with misprinted, skewed labels).

They did a trial run of oil in an Indy car engine. Engine failed and dumped oil on the track. As said above, the specific solvent to clean it was tried. Had to mill and repave a section of the track.

Fascinating stuff! Please, feel free to share more stories if you have the time

 

[rlitman]

...However, compared to normal lubricants, that we use in the "real world", it's absolutely terrible in a high-pressure application like an Acme screw and nut. We had a system inside a high vacuum device and had audio of the screw and nut during motion and could hear the groaning during movement as the screw destroyed the bronze nut. The amount of wear just from minimal testing was staggering and orders of magnitude above that of a high moly grease. We quickly moved on to a ball screw and saved the Krytox grease for o-rings...

Or just add pure molybdenum disulfide powder to it until it's black. That's what I do on a small scale for air guns.

 

[logical]

We've used it to coat seals/gaskets on automotive doors and removeable roof panels that squeaked or "itched" and nothing else seemed to work. It's a last resort because we won't even allow a bottle of it in the same building as a paint or bonding process. It has to be applied after paint, in a separate building, in a different fleet of racks that won't ever go backing the paint shop. It's more feared by paint shop managers than silicone.

 

[rlitman]

We've used it to coat seals/gaskets on automotive doors and removeable roof panels that squeaked or "itched" and nothing else seemed to work. It's a last resort because we won't even allow a bottle of it in the same building as a paint or bonding process. It has to be applied after paint, in a separate building, in a different fleet of racks that won't ever go backing the paint shop. It's more feared by paint shop managers than silicone.

Krytox is not the only PFPE oil/grease on the market. I picked up a jar of Fomblin vacuum pump oil for cheap on eBay, and soaked some into a dry tire shine sponge. A swipe on door gaskets in the fall, and I never have to worry about a frozen door all winter. It's the bees knees on sunroof gaskets too.

 

[merkyworks]

I use krytox 205G0 to lube the switches on mechanical keyboards I have built. It is more or less the gold standard in the mechanical keyboard world.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Sounds about like the Christo-Lube product we use for the SCBAs

 

[rlitman]

Sounds about like the Christo-Lube product we use for the SCBAs

It's in the same family of chemicals.

 

[00 Scrub]

I've seen it used it CV joints with great success before. I'm guessing it's for the elevated temperature properties.
This seems like a thicker version of the Krytox greases, but also very pricey: https://www.qualitybearingsonline.c...DS PDFs/Kluber/Klüberalfa_HM_83-801_EN_en.pdf