Using chemistry to create an environment dedicated to fun.
Enabling Bigger, Better Thrills
Thank Chemistry's Contribution to Exhilarating Amusement Park Rides
It's frustrating when a machine you depend on breaks down. And you really want dependability when the machine's an open car and you're in it—careening down a 400-foot drop at speeds approaching 130 mph.
Diane Closser and Chad Warriner, Technical Service Engineers, know just how much Krytox™ lubricants ensure a wonderful experience at amusement parks nationwide.
Roller coasters and other amusement park rides become more extreme with each passing season, but they also continue to post outstanding safety records. This is thanks in part to the use of the latest technologies and products with remarkable properties. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions estimates that theme parks are around seven million times safer than going for a drive.
Bigger, Better Thrills
Park rides—like other innovative, high-demand technologies—need improved greases like Krytox™ to increase uptime, reliability, and safety, which keeps the merry-go-rounds spinning, the floats parading, and the roller coasters careening. Krytox™ improves the lubrication of rotating equipment that contains bearings, gearboxes, and electric motors. Because Krytox™ can withstand extreme temperatures, attraction designers can create new rides that continue to use the advances of materials science and engineering while pushing the limits of human endurance. Krytox™ doesn’t break down, volatilize, or ignite, thereby enabling designers to invent bigger, better thrills.
Enabling the Everyday
Science can be found all around amusement parks, from the food chemistry of cotton candy to the biochemistry of an endorphin rush to the environmental chemistry of a water park. Similarly, Krytox™ can be found all over the everyday world. Its high heat tolerance and stability make it ideal for everything from the lubrication of the moving parts in ovens to aerospace applications. It helps bicycle chains run smoothly and keeps your car rattle- and squeak-free.
Krytox™ has been around for over 50 years, but we’re still finding new applications and formulations for it. Just as the hunger for thrills pushes park rides to new heights, the demand for efficiency and performance drives people to push their machines to greater and greater extremes. And as the hills they set out to conquer get bigger, we will be right there—where Krytox™ can make all the difference.
This content was featured in the Chemical & Engineering News 08/20/18 issue.