ARS | Publication request: ELASTOHYDRODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF SEED OILS

Submitted to: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: March 8, 2006
Publication Date: June 1, 2006
Citation: Biresaw, G. 2006. Elastohydrodynamic properties of seed oils. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. 83:559-566.

Interpretive Summary: Large surplus of farm products over demand have suppressed prices for agricultural commodity grains such as corn and soybeans. This has resulted in lowering the income of farmers and has the potential to negatively impact the rural economy. One way of countering this problem is developing new consumer and industrial products from farm-based raw materials. Another method is by using farm-based raw materials to replace petroleum-based components in existing products such as lubricants. Currently, lubricants used in various applications such as metalworking, hydraulics, motor oil, etc. are almost exclusively petroleum-based. Successful replacement of petroleum-based components in lubricants requires a thorough understanding of the lubrication properties of farm-based raw materials and their derivatives. In this work, the film-forming property of some seed oils was investigated. This property is an important indicator of the performance of lubricants in various applications. The result showed that the film forming properties of seed oils is consistent with that predicted by lubrication theory.

Technical Abstract: The film-forming properties of canola (CAN), soybean (SBO), and jojoba (JO) seed oils under elastohydrodynamic (EHD) conditions were investigated to determine if differences in their chemical and physical properties affect their EHD properties. Polyalphaolefin (PAO), whose EHD properties have been reported before, was used as the reference synthetic oil. The effect of measurement variables (speed, load, and temperature) on the film thickness of seed oils was consistent with that predicted by EHD theory. Pressure-viscosity coefficients (pvc) calculated from film thickness data at 40 deg C showed a steady-state value until about 50 nm film thickness, from which the following mean and standard deviations values for CAN, SBO, and JO were obtained (GPa-1): 10.0 plus/minus 0.9, 7.6 plus/minus 0.7, and 7.3 plus/minus 0.5. However, further reduction of film thickness below about 50 nm resulted in an increase of pvc for CAN, but a decrease of pvc for SBO and JO.