Powdered Graphite in oil as a destructive agent?

[lomez]

Just read something written by one of my relatives, who was a very significant labor leader from years past. He claimed that in order to create costly problems for "management", mob-controlled union members would (among many other tactics) pour powdered graphite into the oil of machinery...which would quickly seize up and shut down the production line or whatever they wished to harm. This type of thing (along with many other tricks) create big costs for management.

I've mever heard of anything like this. Has anyone? Would that even work? Maybe really large particle size?

We've all heard the old "sugar in the gas tank" trick (which doesn't really work).....but I never heard of this, but just remembered something my labor leader relative once said (he is bigger than Jimmy Hoffa).

 

[Pontual]

Maybe a low grade natural powdered graphite large particle size, having lots of contaminants on it, could wear machinery ...
Natural graphite are mined mostly with calcarium rocks together, so your supermarket packed graphite could be bad contaminated ... I call that lottery game.
Purity could depend on the refinements and extraction location of such natural graphite. Lubrication oils and grease use synthetic graphite, not natual and therefore, is pure.
Even though in that strike situations, deliberate addition of sand talc over the graphite may have done the ugly job.
Only high grade and pure colloidal synthetic graphite should go inside a machine for lubrication purposes.

 

[L_Sludger]

Those boys at ARCO must have been in cahoots with Jasper!

 

[Ducked]

Seem something about the SOE supplying the French Resistance with carborundum powder to attack trains, added, IIRC, to the axle grease cups.

Think it was an Imperial War Museum exhibit display. That'd probably do a better/worse job.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
Seem something about the SOE supplying the French Resistance with carborundum powder to attack trains, added, IIRC, to the axle grease cups.

Think it was an Imperial War Museum exhibit display. That'd probably do a better/worse job.
Carborumdum isn't graphite. Says a lot about the education level of the average union "leader". BTW lowboy rail cars, the only kind which would fit under French bridges carrying a Panzer were the specific target.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Those boys at ARCO must have been in cahoots with Jasper!
I've often wondered if that oil was showm to work any better than anything else, or did the filter take itouton the first pass, like the PTFE stuff.

 

[Chris142]

Valve grinding compound

 

[4wheeldog]

Plain old sand is probably as effective as anything. Especially before full flow oil filters. But if you give it the proper dosage, that filter is going into permanent bypass, anyway.

 

[spackard]

It'd be effective if blown into commutators of electric motors.

 

[Brybo86]

Yep sounds like big organized labor to me.

 

[jkhawaii]

That reminds me. I have to change my oil ASAP to get that Graphite additive [censored] out of my new cars engine. They add it to every new vehicle. Some one must be getting a cut.

 

[A_Harman]

There are many worse things than graphite to put in an oil system if your intent is sabotage. Arco once made Arco Graphite motor oil in the early 80's that had micron sized graphite particles in it, and was deep black when it was fresh out of the can. I ran it for a couple of years, and it worked fine for me.

Think back to the Cash For Clunkers program of 2009. The scrapped cars were drained of oil, and sodium silicate was put in the oil system. Then the engines were run until they seized, which normally only took a couple of minutes. Leave it to the government to figure out a really effective method of sabotaging things. At taxpayers' expense.

 

[Shannow]

A Harman, been playing with silicates in my geopolymer experiments, they are great.

But in the clunkers, as soon as the friction areas got above 100-110C, the silcates solidify into solid glass...ridiculously effective.

And why I'm wary of silicate stop leaks (where I get my silicates for play from) for really bad head gaskets.

As to graphite, or sand, there was a case in my state of Sand in a turbine, didn't do much, as the velocities are typically too low to keep the stuff up, and the filters, even at 20um catch the most. White metal is embeddable for the odd oversized particle.