Auto Mileage: The Need to Replace Lead to Reduce Friction in Industry
Auto mileage is on everyone's mind. Manufacturers, inventors, industrialists and even "gear heads" are looking for solutions for improving auto mileage. The issue involves lubrication for metal parts. Reduced friction improves engine performance, reduces heat and wear, and increases auto mileage.
As most of the world knows, lead, once considered a wonderful, inexpensive lubricating substance, was found in almost all oil based products. It has now become a thing of the past. But, the question remains:
Are we better off, from a "friction performance" standpoint, without lead?
After the demise of lead, industry was faced with a real dilemma:
1) The so-called "lead replacements" just weren't able to meet the performance standards of lead based products, and
2) They caused other unwanted complications.
The primary replacement additives were phosphate esters and sulfurized lard oils. These additives were, and still are, found in most oil formulations today, and in almost every application possible. They have not solved the auto mileage dilemma we wrestle with daily.
The problem with these components is no "mystery": The by-products generated as a result of their use are corrosive acids, all of which shorten the life of the vessel in which they are contained, i.e., gear boxes, machine tools, internal combustion engines, and the like. Auto mileage is directly impacted and always has been.
Auto Mileage: The Movement toward an Industrial Solution
There still was no real "auto mileage" solution on the horizon. But, the solution to the real problem ("reducing friction and heat") was tested for several years in a number of industrial toll blending applications. Later it was used in such applications as cranes (gear boxes) and machine tools. Hardly an auspicious beginning for anything to do with auto mileage.
But that was precisely the problem. Scientists still did not yet fully discern the amazing versatility of the new technology involved (much less the potential for the auto mileage solutions implicated). Of course, the need to replace lead was still real for industry. As a result, development initiated a line of industrial gear lubricants.
It was in areas of industrial application (not auto mileage testing, at first) where the reduction of friction and heat was crucial (such as gear boxes, machine tools and 4 cycle engines) that a remarkable blend first became prominent. The "light came on" in the thinking of those using the new and potent technology.
A complete line of gear lubes was developed reflecting the advance of the new technology. The results were phenomenal, but no one in the field yet understood the real potential for auto "anything", let alone auto mileage.
The users of these industrial lubricants reported longer gear life, less heat build-up, and lower electricity used. The additive was then expanded into such areas as
chain lubricants
penetrating oils
greases
all with the same amazing results. Again, hardly the normative beginning for finding improvements in auto mileage.
All of this led to considerations within the automotive industry. The thinking was, if this technology reduces friction in huge industrial gear boxes, what would it do in an automotive differential?
With this question unanswered, the new technology was supplied to a small racing team who agreed to use it in the differentials of their sprint cars. After two years of use, the report was that there was significantly less gear wear than prior to its use. (Note: there was still no thought to apply this to improving "auto mileage".)
Auto Mileage: "Coming in" from Outside the Industry with Solutions
When developers looked at the automotive additive industry, they found that most of the oil additives on the market designed to improve auto mileage only contained compounds such as:
chlorinated paraffins - "wax" to try improvements in auto mileage
PTFE its inventors today deny its use for improved auto mileage
Sulfur disintegrates at low temps which doesn't help auto mileage
Phosphorous protects engine at higher temperatures only.
Zinc - not effective for increased auto mileage.
and the like. In other words, things that have been around for years, industrially, were being recycled toward automotive applications (and with some of the same negative results, though a few did improve auto mileage by reducing friction to some extent). None of these additives come close to performing like the new technology being used in the toll blending solutions seen in heavy industrial settings, in which I have participated.
Realizing that talk is cheap, the manufacturers of the toll blending solution, so to speak, teamed up with a small oil manufacturer and ran a series of tests to prove the point. Now, auto mileage (and auto repair issues) were definitely "in focus".
Then something almost unbelievable occurred. Expectations from testing were high, but nothing like what those tests revealed. The passenger car version was pitted against a premium racing car blend, used by drivers all the time.
The results of these tests even surprised those who tested the new technology (these were people who had experienced just about everything in racing car engine performance testing).
The results were like night and day. The racing oil, under 80-100 percent marine load for 5 hours, failed, while the new technology appeared to be hardly "broken in". The results of these tests may be seen elsewhere. Auto mileage could take on a whole new meaning for motorists.
It was now known that what was tested was significantly superior to anything seen on the market to date. Needless to say, people are extremely excited about getting it into the hands of car users everywhere. The benefits go beyond auto mileage. These tests confirmed what was known in my industry for years.
I know. I was there.
Jim Stuart is a chemical research scientist specializing in automotive, diesel, tractor, and marine engine oil additive technologies. To contact him, go to http://www.technicianstip.com/sp1.php or call 262-646-7579.
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