TPT January 2016

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January 2016 97
Metalube Ltd Article
Metalube’s water-based steel
rollforming packages deliver new
levels of performance at Top Tubes
By Wayne Thornhill, product specialist, Metalube
The new range of products developed by Metalube includes:
Cool-Tek – low oil content, semi-synthetic forming lubricants
Meta-Shield – solvent-based and water-based rust
preventatives
Sol-Tek – evaporative lubricants.
These products can be used separately to provide their own
unique benefits or combined to achieve the highest levels
of cleanliness and corrosion protection. The combination
of Cool-Tek 250 and Meta-Shield W1000D, as used by
Top Tubes Ltd, was specifically designed to overcome the
issues faced by producers who use inline application of rust
preventatives (application before tube cut off).
Traditionally solvent-based rust preventatives have been
used for the protection of steel tube. As manufacturers who
use inline application of solvent based rust preventatives
will know, the cross contamination of solvent-based rust
preventative and mill lubricant can cause a number of issues:
• Roll slip/skidding – variations in lubrication
• Decreasing levels of cleanliness on both the mill and the
finished products
• Increased dermatological risk for operators
Metalube wanted to overcome these issues and others
faced by the tube manufacturer (such as the increasingly
Metalube (a global leader in the design, manufacture
and supply of high performance lubricants and rust
preventatives) has launched a unique and innovative
range of products for the rollforming of ERW steel tube
and pipe and rollformed sections/profiles. Metalube’s
dedicated team of development chemists and industry
specialists took the process back to basics and developed
the grades from first principles with only rollforming in
mind (rather than simply renaming CNC cutting fluids as
many other suppliers do).
Top Tubes Ltd (Wednesbury, UK), a major UK producer
of tube for the automotive, agricultural, construction,
office and retail sectors producing over 40KTpA, has now
adopted Metalube’s products for use on its two rollforming
lines. Metalube’s unique package of low oil, semi-
synthetic forming lubricant (Cool-Tek 250) and compatible
water based rust preventative (Meta-Shield W1000D)
has proven technically superior, environmentally kinder
and economically beneficial.
stringent demands by its customers to easily remove the
rust preventative film). To that end the rollforming range was
developed. The Cool-Tek 250 and Meta-Shield W1000D
package represents the pinnacle of this development.
Cool-Tek 250 (mill lubricant) was designed using Meta-Shield
technology to incorporate high levels of corrosion protection
into the mill lubricant itself. This means that strong corrosion
protection is applied to the inside bore of the tube even when
used as low as 4 to 5 per cent. The high level of detergents
mean that both the mill and the finished tube remain very clean
and the low level of oil in the product stops fines compacting
into hard deposits. As the product has a low oil content the
drag out is minimal and consumption is around 0.2L/T.
Meta-Shield W1000D is provided as a ready-to-use emulsion.
It is a milky opaque emulsion (see pictures) and uses the
special MAT (Metalube Adhesion Technology) to deposit a