They typically consist of base oils enhanced with various additives, particularly antiwar additives, detergents, dispersants, and, for multi-grade oils, viscosity index improvers. The main function of motor oil is to reduce friction and wear on moving parts and to clean the engine from sludge (one of the functions of dispersants) and varnish (detergents). It also neutralizes acids that originate from fuel and from oxidation of the lubricant (detergents), improves the sealing of piston rings, and cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts.
Pritish Kumar Halder, illustrate Engine oil which is used for the lubrication of an internal combustion engine.
In addition to the aforementioned basic constituents, almost all lubricating oils contain corrosion and oxidation inhibitors. Motor oil may be composed of only a lubricant base stock in the case of non-detergent oil, or a lubricant base stock plus additives to improve the oil’s detergency, extreme pressure performance, and ability to inhibit corrosion of engine parts.
Motor oils are blended using base oils composed of petroleum-based hydrocarbons, polyalphaolefins (PAO), or their mixtures in various proportions, sometimes with up to 20% by weight of esters for better dissolution of additives.
Properties
Most motor oils are made from a heavier, thicker petroleum hydrocarbon base stock derived from crude oil, with additives to improve certain properties. The bulk of a typical motor oil consists of hydrocarbons with between 18 and 34 carbon atoms per molecule. One of the most important properties of motor oil in maintaining a lubricating film between moving parts is its viscosity.
The viscosity of a liquid can be thought of as its “thickness” or a measure of its resistance to flow. The viscosity must be high enough to maintain a lubricating film, but low enough that the oil can flow around the engine parts under all conditions. Viscosity index is a measure of how much the oil’s viscosity changes as temperature changes. A higher viscosity index indicates the viscosity changes less with temperature than a lower viscosity index.
Viscosity grades
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has established a numerical code system for grading motor oils according to their viscosity characteristics known as SAE J300. The original viscosity grades were all mono-grades, e.g. a typical engine oil was a SAE 30. This is because all oils thin when heated, so to get the right film thickness at operating temperatures oil manufacturers needed to start with a thick oil.
This meant that in cold weather it would be difficult to start the engine as the oil was too thick to crank. However, oil additive technology was introduced that allowed oils to thin more slowly (i.e. to retain a higher viscosity index); this allowed selection of a thinner oil to start with, e.g. “SAE 15W-30”, a product that acts like an SAE 15 at cold temperatures (15W for winter) and like an SAE 30 at 100 °C (212 °F).
Synthetic oils
Synthetic lubricants were first synthesized, or man-made, in significant quantities as replacements for mineral lubricants (and fuels) by German scientists in the late 1930s and early 1940s because of their lack of sufficient quantities of crude for their (primarily military) needs. A significant factor in its gain in popularity was the ability of synthetic-based lubricants to remain fluid in the sub-zero temperatures of the Eastern front in wintertime, temperatures which caused petroleum-based lubricants to solidify owing to their higher wax content.
The use of synthetic lubricants widened through the 1950s and 1960s owing to a property at the other end of the temperature spectrum – the ability to lubricate aviation engines at high temperatures that caused mineral-based lubricants to break down. In the mid-1970s, synthetic motor oils were formulated and commercially applied for the first time in automotive applications. The same SAE system for designating motor oil viscosity also applies to synthetic oils.
Use
Motor oil is a lubricant used in internal combustion engines, which power cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers, engine-generators, and many other machines. In engines, there are parts which move against each other, and the friction between the parts wastes otherwise useful power by converting kinetic energy into heat.
Lubricating oil creates a separating film between surfaces of adjacent moving parts to minimize direct contact between them, decreasing frictional heat and reducing wear, thus protecting the e In petrol (gasoline) engines, the top piston ring can expose the motor oil to temperatures of 160 °C (320 °F). In diesel engines, the top ring can expose the oil to temperatures over 315 °C (600 °F). Motor oils with higher viscosity indices thin less at these higher temperatures.
Coating metal parts with oil also keeps them from being exposed to oxygen, inhibiting oxidation at elevated operating temperatures preventing rust or corrosion. Corrosion inhibitors may also be added to the motor oil.
Rubbing of metal engine parts inevitably produces some microscopic metallic particles from the wearing of the surfaces. Such particles could circulate in the oil and grind against moving parts, causing wear.
In the crankcase of a vehicle engine, motor oil lubricates rotating or sliding surfaces between the crankshaft journal bearings (main bearings and big-end bearings) and rods connecting the pistons to the crankshaft.
From these holes in the main journals, the oil moves through passageways inside the crankshaft to exit holes in the rod journals to lubricate the rod bearings and connecting rods. Some simpler designs relied on these rapidly moving parts to splash and lubricate the contacting surfaces between the piston rings and interior surfaces of the cylinders.
Motor oil may also serve as a cooling agent. In some engines oil is sprayed through a nozzle inside the crankcase onto the piston to provide cooling of specific parts that undergo high-temperature strain. On the other hand, the thermal capacity of the oil pool has to be filled, i.e. the oil has to reach its designed temperature range before it can protect the engine under high load.
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