Classes and Types of Lubricant Additives

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Classes and Types of Lubricant Additives

Lubricants, or lubricant additives as they are commonly known, are extremely useful to help lubricants last longer. Common lubricant properties cool, slick, clean, protect and lubricate. Lubricant additives by chemical manufacturers in UAE, generally are either synthetic or organic compounds that give one or more beneficial purposes in the oil or grease being used at a certain treatment rate. Lubricants may also be additives to existing lubricants, or they may be ingredients in new additives that improve the properties of the lubricant.

Classes of Lubricant Additives

There are four main classes of lubricant additives, with one representative for each of four industrial applications. The first three categories are those which add flow-time, decrease friction to the oil or grease and those which improve its chemical and physical properties.

The fourth category is made up of additives which improve the lubricant’s viscosity index. The viscosity index is an expression for the rate at which oil will spread into a film, thereby making it more slippery. The greater the viscosity index, the shallower the film will be. There are many factors which affect the oil/gluing property of the lubricant and some of them are physical properties, oil/water mixture characteristics, and theivity.

Types of Lubricant Additives

There are basically two types of lubricant additives, and these are the:

Synthetic: The synthetic additives can be chosen to mimic a particular compound which has been specifically synthesized to fulfill certain specifications, or they can be selected to have a particular structure, such as the addition of certain numbers of additives that increase the amount of silicone molecules in the lubricating oil.

Organic types: Organic lubricant additives, on the other hand, may be selected from the non-synthetic or the synthetic categories. Organic lubricants have no known mechanical properties, but their use is rather limited due to the fact that they may also attract a reaction from the metal surface they cover (for example, the addition of sulfur to increase the wear resistance of the metal bearings in bearings and the addition of formic acid to the rubber parts of pump cases).

Some lubricant additives may add specific chemical properties to the base oils. In addition, there are many additional mechanical properties which may be added to the oil depending on the intended application and existing lubrication properties. Many additives react with water to produce new properties, while others merely increase the overall effectiveness of the lubricant.