|
 
AMSOIL Benefits
With AMSOIL, vehicles and equipment:
• last longer
• need fewer repairs
• perform better – more responsive, more power
• get better fuel economy (more miles to the gallon)
• emit cleaner exhaust ...
... and AMSOIL synthetic lubricants last longer than other lubricants
do.
AMSOIL Features
Feature:
Synthetic lubricants are pure, uniform and designable.
Synthetic lubricant basestocks are:
Pure
– Because they are derived from pure chemicals, synthetic lubricants
contain no contaminants or molecules that “don’t pull their own weight.”
Uniform
– Because synthetics contain only smooth lubricating molecules, they
slip easily across one another. On the other hand, the potpourri of
jagged, irregular and odd-shaped molecules of refined lubricants don’t
slip quite so easily. The ease with which lubricant molecules slip over
one another affects the lube’s ability to reduce friction, which in
turn, affects wear control, heat control and fuel efficiency.
Synthetics are superior. Uniformity also helps synthetics resist
thinning in heat and thickening in cold, which helps them protect better
over a system’s operating temperature range and helps lubes provide
better seals than conventional lubes do.
Designable
– Synthetic lubricants may be made to fulfill virtually every
lubricating need. On the other hand, the applicability of conventional
lubes is limited, due to their functional limitations in high
temperatures, low temperatures and other demanding conditions.
By
controlling friction and heat more effectively, synthetics significantly
reduce the incidence of component failure and significantly reduce the
rate of component wear.
Failure
and wear may lead to shortened equipment life. They often require
vehicles and equipment to need repair. And when excessive wear occurs
in an engine, increased exhaust emissions are almost always the outcome.
Feature:
Synthetic lubricants are pure.
Heat and oxidation are the main enemies of lubricant basestocks –
especially of the contaminants in conventional basestocks. Once heat or
oxidation cause a lubricant to breakdown, the lubricant must be replaced
or the equipment or vehicle may be damaged by a lack of lubrication or
by chemical attack. The excellent resistance of synthetic lubricants to
thermal and oxidative breakdown allows them to be safely used for much
longer drain intervals than conventional lubricants. In fact, AMSOIL
synthetic motor oils may be used for 25,000 miles or one year under
normal service conditions.
THERMAL
AND OXIDATIVE STABILITY
Some of the chemicals in conventional lubricants break down at
temperatures within the normal operating range of many vehicle and
equipment components. Some are prone to break down in these relatively
mild temperatures if oxygen is present, which it almost invariably is in
vehicles and equipment. These thermally and oxidatively unstable
contaminants do not help the lubrication process in any way. They are
present in conventional oils simply because removing them is impossible
or too expensive. When conventional oil contaminants break down, they
coat components with varnish, deposits and sludge and leave the
lubricant thick, hard to pump and with very poor heat transfer ability.
Because synthetic lubricants do not contain contaminants, they are much
more resistant to thermal and oxidative breakdown. That means they can
be used in higher temperatures than conventional oils can without
breaking down and they are impervious to breakdown at normal operating
temperatures. With synthetics, components stay varnish-free,
deposit-free and sludge-free. And, because thermally and oxidatively
stable lubricants retain their fluidity, pumpability and original heat
transfer abilities, they protect and lubricate better, longer.
COLD
TEMPERATURE FLUIDITY
You’re familiar with paraffin. It hardens at room temperature.
Conventional lubricants often contain paraffins which cause the
lubricants to thicken in cold temperatures as the paraffin gels.
However, a lubricant must flow readily throughout the system it protects
or the system goes unprotected, and cold-thickened lubricants lose their
ability to flow readily, or sometimes even to flow at all. In fact, at
startup, conventional oils may leave working parts unprotected for as
long as five minutes – plenty of time for significant wear to occur.
Synthetic lubricants do not contain paraffins or other waxes that
thicken dramatically in cold temperatures. Synthetic lubricants flow
readily in extremely cold temperatures, much colder than those at which
conventional oils flow, which provides rapid post-startup lubrication
and protection, keeping startup wear in check. The superior cold
temperature fluidity of synthetic lubricants also helps engines start
more dependably in cold temperatures than they do with conventional
oils. Cold thickened conventional oils sometimes hinder the rotation of
the crankshaft so much, it cannot rotate fast enough to start the
engine.
The “goal” of the engine and drivetrain is the maximum transfer of the
energy released from fuel combustion to the wheels to move the vehicle.
The engine and drivetrain accomplish their goal mechanically. Each
mechanical component has moving parts that require lubrication for
friction, heat and wear control. Ironically, while parts move with
significantly reduced friction when a lubricant separates them than when
one doesn’t, the lubricant itself contributes some friction to the
system, due to the way its molecules slip over one another.
Feature:
Synthetic lubricant molecules are uniform.
Because their uniform and smooth molecular structure allows AMSOIL
synthetic lubricants to operate with less friction than conventional
lubricants do, they control heat better than conventional lubricants.
By keeping heat lower, the lubricant is stressed less, which helps it
last longer. And because oxidation and heat are directly related – more
heat leads to more oxidation – the lubricant is less stressed by
oxidation, too, which also helps it last.
HEAT
CONTROL
Lubricated components are designed to operate in a range of temperatures
which are considered optimal. However, demands for more power, faster
operation and more load carrying capacity often push actual operating
temperatures above the optimal range. High temperature operation is
often a cause of component failure and even more often a significant
cause of component wear. Because uniformly smooth synthetic lubricant
molecules slip easily over one another, they are superior friction
reducers to conventional lubricants. (Technically, because they slip
more easily over one another, synthetics are said to have a lower
“coefficient of friction” than conventional lubricants.) The less
friction in a system, the less heat in it, too. Friction and heat are
two major contributors to component failure and wear. By controlling
friction and heat more effectively, synthetics significantly reduce the
incidence of component failure and significantly reduce the rate of
component wear. In addition, uniformly sized synthetic lubricant
molecules make them better heat transfer agents than conventional
lubricant molecules. Some petroleum lubricant molecules are large and
heavy. Others are small and light. As oil flows in a lubricated
system, the small, light molecules tend to flow in the center of the oil
stream while the large, heavy ones get stuck on the metal surfaces where
they create a barrier against the movement of heat from the component
and into the oil stream. In effect, the large, heavy molecules work like
a blanket around hot components. If those large, heavy molecules are
chemically unstable, they may also breakdown and form deposits on
component surfaces, making the blanketing effect even more pronounced.
Since synthetic lubricants have no large heavy molecules, they don’t
blanket hot components. Instead, every molecule is equally likely to
touch the hot component surface and take some of its heat into the oil
stream which carries the heat away. Also, since synthetics tend to be
chemically stable, they are not prone to form deposits.
VISCOSITY
INDEX
Lubricant viscosity plays an important role in component efficiency and
life expectancy. (Viscosity is a measure of fluid flow.) If a component
is lubricated with a lubricant whose viscosity is too low, the component
will not be protected adequately and will wear excessively. If the
component is lubricated with a lubricant whose viscosity is too high,
the component will expend excess energy doing its job, which reduces
efficiency and may affect the life of other components, such as motors.
“Viscosity index” is a number assigned to lubricants to describe how
much their viscosity changes with temperature changes. The higher the
viscosity index, the less the lubricant’s viscosity changes. High
viscosity index lubricants protect better and provide for greater
efficiency than low viscosity index lubricants do because the high
viscosity index fluids are more apt to retain the correct viscosity for
the job, neither thickening as much in cold nor thinning as much in
heat. Synthetic lubricants have higher viscosity indexes than
conventional lubricants, due, in part, to the uniformity of synthetic
lubricant molecules. Large, heavy lubricant molecules tend to increase
lubricant viscosity more in cold temperatures than smaller, lighter
lubricant molecules do. Conventional lubricants, which contain some
relatively large, heavy molecules, tend to thicken in cold temperatures
more than synthetic lubricants, with their uniformly sized molecules,
do. Since temperature affects the viscosity of conventional lubricants
more than it does the viscosity of synthetic lubricants, conventional
lubricants have a lower viscosity index than synthetics do.
FRICTION
CONTROL
Uniform, smooth synthetic lubricant molecules slip across one another
easily. That minimizes friction, which in turn, improves power and fuel
economy because more of the energy released from fuel combustion reaches
the wheels and moves the vehicle. The vehicle accelerates more quickly
and powerfully because more of the fuel goes to moving the vehicle
rather than to overcoming friction. The vehicle also works more
efficiently, getting better fuel economy (more miles to the gallon) for
the same reason – more of the fuel goes to moving the vehicle than to
overcoming friction.
LOW
VOLATILITY
The small, light molecules in conventional lubricants “boil off” at
relatively low temperatures: just as you put less energy into throwing a
light ball into the air than you do a heavy one, so light molecules
require less energy, in the form of heat, to lift out of solution and
into the air than heavier molecules do. The tendency of a liquid to
boil off is referred to as its “volatility.” Conventional lubricants are
more volatile than synthetic oils are. Volatility affects more than the
rate of oil consumption. Because the light molecules are lost through
volatility, volatile oils tend to grow thick with use, which makes them
hard to pump. The harder the oil pump works, the more energy it
consumes, which reduces fuel economy and the quicker the pump wears
out. Plus, parts require more energy to move through thicker oil than
they do through thinner oil. All the energy spent on pumping and moving
through thick oil is energy lost to performance and fuel economy.
Synthetic lubricants lose very little to volatility, because their
molecules are uniformly sized. None are smaller and lighter than others
and therefore more susceptible to boiling off. The low volatility of
synthetic lubricants keeps performance and fuel economy at their peak.
Feature:
Synthetic lubricants are designable.
What
benefits come from the feature of designability?
For industry, the feature of designability is often important. In
industrial applications, lubricants may be exposed to temperatures,
loads and other stresses far beyond the capabilities of conventional
products to endure. The nearly infinite designability of synthetic
lubricants makes synthetics the only products useful for such
applications.
Predictive
maintenance is a growing practice in commercial and industrial
applications. Predictive maintenance practice calls for oil drain
intervals based on used oil analysis. As a result, commercial and
industrial lubricant users of AMSOIL synthetic lubricants are finding
their lubricant drain intervals may be substantially increased with no
danger to their vehicles and equipment. The practice of extending drain
intervals saves them money on used oil disposal costs and replacement
oil costs, and most importantly, it saves them downtime. “Downtime” to a
motorist may mean inconvenience – a lost Saturday afternoon changing oil
or having to take the bus while the car is being serviced. The value of
a Saturday afternoon or the convenience of having the car may be very
high.
Feature:
AMSOIL synthetic lubricants contain high quality additives. Just as
quality differences exist between lubricant basestocks, quality
differences also exist between lubricant additives. For example, low
quality viscosity modifiers are often damaged by the shearing forces in
the engine. Once damaged, they no longer work to increase the
lubricant’s viscosity in high temperatures, leaving lubricated
components open to wear and damage during high temperature operations.
The quality of lubricant additives is directly related to their cost.
Lubricants made to be sold at a low price contain low cost additives,
and, of course, a low cost conventional basestock. Lubricants
formulated for performance contain additives proven to perform, despite
their usually higher cost. Over time, the performance formulated
lubricant proves to be the more cost effective choice, due to the
superior lubricant and protection it provides. Vehicles and equipment
last longer and perform better with performance-formulated lubricants.
Additive quality also affects lubricant life. For example, some
alkalinity additives last much longer than others do. In diesel
engines, the lubricant must be replaced when the alkalinity additives
are used up or the engine is subject to corrosion which may cause
failure or significantly accelerated wear. It doesn’t pay to pair
long-life additives with short-lived conventional basestocks. It does
pay, however, to pair long-life additives with long-life synthetic
basestocks. Here, too, quality pays – in reduced oil drains, reduced
used oil disposal costs and reduced downtime. In fact, every benefit
attributed to AMSOIL synthetic lubricants comes not only from the
lubricants’ synthetic basestocks, but also from their top-quality
additives.
Is
there more to a lubricant than its basestock?
Lubricants contain basestocks and additives, with the basestock
comprising the greatest volume of the finished lubricant. Additives
either enhance basestock properties or add properties to the finished
lubricant that the basestocks don’t have. Very broadly, each additive
performs one or more of the following functions:
• Protect metal surfaces
• Extend the range of lubricant applicability
• Extend lubricant life
The
largest market for lubricant additives is in the transportation field,
including
additives for lubricants used in engines and drive trains.
Surface
protective additives:
• Antiwear agents inhibit wear
• Rust and corrosion inhibitors inhibit rust and corrosion
• Detergents keep surfaces free of deposits
• Alkalinity additives neutralize acids
• Dispersants keep insoluble materials dispersed in the lubricant to
inhibit wear
• Friction modifiers reduce friction
Lubricant
applicability extending additives
• Viscosity modifiers reduce the rate of viscosity change with
changes in temperature
• Seal swell agents help form and maintain tight seals
Lubricant
life enhancing additives
• Antifoam agents inhibit lubricant foaming
• Antioxidants inhibit lubricant oxidation
The excellent resistance of synthetic lubricants to thermal and
oxidative breakdown allow them to be safely used for much longer drain
intervals than conventional lubricants. |
