Eco‐friendly base fluids for lubricant oil formulations

There is an increasing move towards the use of environmentally safe lubricants. However, the development of a common biodegradable base stock that could replace conventional ones is a big challenge. Synthetic lubricants, whether synthetic hydrocarbons, organic esters, or others, all have problems associated with their use. However, in general terms synthetic lubricants protect better, last longer, and outperform their conventional mineral‐based counterparts in certain applications. Future lubricant specifications in view of the demand for improved performance to meet stringent environmental regulations are the main drivers for new technological developments. As part of a study to produce polyol ester lubricant base stocks from C₅ polyols and C₆‐C₁₄ carboxylic acids in the presence of eco‐friendly catalysts, a series of products has been synthesised. A biodegradable lubricant formulation for automotive transmission fluids has been developed based on a synthesised product as a base fluid. This paper reports on the physico‐chemical characteristics and performance evaluation results of this formulation, which is a promising base stock for automotive transmission fluids.     

Functional fluids and additives based on vegetable oils and natural products: A review of the potential

Functional fluids and additives normally have an ‘R — P’ type of linear chemical structure, where ‘R’ is a linear or isoalkyl chain, and ‘P’ is a mild-to-strong polar group. For functional fluids ‘P’ is non-polar to mildly polar, and for additive molecules it is mild to highly polar. The additive activity depends upon the degree of polarity. Some natural products also have predominantly linear structures in their constituents. Many of these are available in commercial quantities and some even occur as waste. These could be used for the synthesis of functional fluids and additives. This paper covers three groups of such natural products. These are non-edible vegetable oils, terpenes, and cashew nut shell liquid. The synthesis and characteristics of functional fluids and a variety of possible additives are described. Besides being an alternative non-petroleum resource, such products have a high degree of biodegradability, as they are derivatives of natural products.     

Effects of blended vegetable‐based cutting fluids with extreme pressure on tool wear and force components in turning of Al 7075‐T6

In this study, performances of four different types of vegetable‐based cutting fluids (VBCFs) over a commercial mineral cutting fluid were evaluated for machinability of Al 7075‐T6. Lubrication properties of VBCFs were improved with additive of extreme pressure. Cutting force and tool wear data were obtained for performance analyses of cutting fluids during longitudinal turning of Al 7075‐T6. Cutting, feed and radial forces indicated 1.70–38.25% improvements for VBCFs over the commercial mineral cutting fluid. The lowest average values of flank and nose wears obtained with blended cutting fluid containing 12% of extreme pressure were 0.09 and 0.10 mm, respectively, whereas these values for the commercial mineral cutting fluid were 0.18 and 0.15 mm. The scanning electron microscope results showed adherence of workpiece material occurred on rake and flank faces, and flank and nose wears were the dominant wear modes. It was found that performances of VBCFs during turning of Al 7075‐T6 were better than that of the commercial mineral cutting fluid. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.