Assembly or anti-scuff pastes as they’re referred to in industry aren’t typical lubricating greases as we know them. They are a range of super-slippery pastes, which have the lowest coefficient of friction and offer the highest protection against loads, shock loading and wear. What distinguishes assembly pastes from typical industrial or automotive lubricating greases is the amount of solid lubricants, usually molybdenum disulphide, zinc and/or graphite, and the type of extreme pressure additive pack used. In contrast to typical lubricating greases which either have no solid lubricants (moly and/or graphite to name only 2 of many) or a maximum of 3% when used in bearings, assembly pastes can have between 30% and 50% solids. Lubricants with such a large amount of solids cannot be used in anti-friction bearing applications. In most cases additional extreme pressure additives are also added to facilitate higher loads and further protection against wear. Given their unrivalled lubricity and wear protection, weld loads of over 1000 kg (ASTM D2596) are easily achieved making these pastes ideal for specific applications in both the automotive and industrial market sectors.

The term assembly paste was coined based on the requirement for a heavy duty lubricant to protect new or freshly machined components, particularly when first starting a newly assembled engine, gearbox or differential or when “running” them in. When SCA Assembly Paste is applied as a thin layer to high friction/wear areas in an engine this ultra-slippery paste will offer unrivalled score and wear protection until oil pressure and feed have settled and the components wetted completely with lubricating oil from the sump. Engine components most notably known for high friction and wear necessitating the use of SCA Assembly Paste include crank and camshaft journals and bearing caps, cam lobes, valve stem tips, lifter bottoms, timing chain gear/sprockets and opposing gear faces between pinion and crown-wheel in a differential. Outside of the aforementioned automotive applications, SCA assembly paste can be used on an axle or shaft when press fitting bearings, applied to spline shafts that are subject to severe torque forces to prevent the splines from bowing, and in fact on most slideway guideway applications. The SCA Assembly Paste when applied to severely spalled and galled hypoid gears, crown-wheels and pinions makes for an excellent first-aid lubricant by arresting further wear and smoothing damages and scored surfaces, which it does by allowing metal forming to take place under the strength of the boundary lubricant layer it creates. SCA Assembly Paste can also be used as an anti-seize compound of most threaded components but with particularly stainless steel fasteners where copper pastes would cause solder embrittlement of the thread flanks.