The present work has been aimed at studying the influence of the high-temperature holding time ("hot-soak" time) and the melt cooling conditions on the individual stages of grease structure formation, depending on the content of alkali. In preparing the greases we used LiSt obtained in grease manufacture by neutralizing the calculated quantities of HSt with an aqueous LiOH solution. The concentrgtion of LiOH in AU spindle oil was varied broad limits (0.5-0.8% as NaOH). The structurization of the grease was performed with slow cooling (2-4 ~ C/min), with fast cooling (40-50~ and with isothermal crystallization of the melt at 130~ for 60 min. The influence of alkali on the association of soap molecules and the change in the character of this effect, depending on the particular process factors, were investigated on the basis of IR spectroscopic data [4], measurements of the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant s, and measurements of the yield point (GOST [All-Union State Standard] 7143--73). In the spectroscopic studies, the soap concentration was no higher than 3% by weight (90~ mmoles/liter), since with higher contents of LiSt, the optical density of the absorption bands of its associated molecules does not follow the normal rules, even with a minimum thickness of the sample layer in the cuvette.