ARS | Publication request: VEGETABLE OILS FOR FUTURE LUBRICANTS--"INSIDE STORY" OF AN ACHIEVABLE GOAL

Submitted to: Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 24, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Vegetable oils are potential candidate for lubrication of the future. However, the technical deficiencies associated with vegetable oils in terms of thermal, oxidative and viscosity-temperature properties have to be overcome before they are considered for specialty high performing lubricants. Therefore, a complete understanding of the vegetable oil structure and their ultimate effect on above properties are required before an ambitious project is undertaken. Pressurized differential scanning calorimeter (PDSC) and thin film micro-oxidation (TFMO) was used to study the relative thermal, oxidative and kinetic behavior of vegetable oils. The results were discussed in terms of the structural differences obtained from quantitative 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. These structural parameters of vegetable oils are useful to explain the variations in thermal (% evaporation, % insoluble deposit), build up of oil soluble oxypolymeric compounds and kinetic (Ea, k) data. A detailed understanding of the rate and nature of deposit formation would help in subsequent studies on antioxidant (AO) additive response. Effect of a pour point depressant (PPD) and diluents was also studied as external parameters influencing low temperature behavior.