Europe gets on the stick with MPL
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefMPL Innovations, Inc., a major supplier of solid polymer lubricants for the rail industry, has achieved European UNI EN 16028 Standard (Annex L) certification for train-borne lubricants for its NatureBlend™ product.
MPL has supplied solid lubricants to the rail industry for more than 20 years with its Solidstick™ product, and has worked closely with its customers to develop NatureBlend, an environmentally friendly lubricant produced entirely with renewable and biodegradable polymers and oils. MPL tested NatureBlend on the National Research Council of Canada’s twin-disk Amsler machine “to verify it meets the demanding standards of rail applications,” the company said. “The Amsler machine, operated by the NRC in Vancouver, Canada, is one of the few test machines in the world capable of simulating this type of severe operating environment for testing solid lubricants.”*
“We are extremely pleased the MPL line of products meets and exceeds the European standards established for solid lubricants,” said MPL President Mike Mitrovich. “We strive to consistently improve our line of products from a performance standpoint while at the same time reducing our environmental impact by sourcing sustainable polymers and oils. We continue to work closely with our customers to identify new areas of development opportunities in the rail industry.”
EN 16028 was established in 2012 by the European Committee for Standardization, creating requirements for testing and approval of wheel/rail friction management products throughout Europe’s rail industry. The standard is used to measure the effectiveness of a lubricant when subjected to extremely high pressures and environmental conditions experienced in railway applications.
MPL Innovations was founded in 1991 to develop and commercialize a solid polymer lubricant for the rail industry and “has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of solid polymer lubricants to the rail industry around the world,” the company said.
*The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) was commissioned to perform testing under the conditions outlined in the UNI EN 16028 Standard (Annex L). While NRC did perform testing under those conditions, NRC said it “did not assess whether the test results met the requirements for certification, and therefore did not assist MPL Innovations Inc. in obtaining certification to the standard.”
