So What's In This Stuff Anyways?
All You Really Need to Know About Motor Oil Additives
It has been a long long time since motor oil was just oil. In the 1930s
someone decided to begin putting wax modifier in the oil to address the problem
of wax residue after the refining process. Thus was born the motor oil additive
market.
Today, motor oils contain a variety of ingredients designed to improve
the performance capabilities of motor oil, whether petroleum or synthetic. This
article is an overview of the various oil additives used in automobile engines and
drivetrains.
Additives Job Descriptions
In this article we are referring to additives that are formulated into the motor
oil, not the chemistries being packaged and sold as aftermarket oil additives on
the shelves of auto parts stores.
Motor oil additives have three essential functions: to protect metal surfaces, to
expand the lubricants application range, and to extend lubricant life. Additional
considerations for additive selection include ease with which they can be handled
by formulators, stability in storage, toxicity, and their smell. Yes, smell is a
serious consideration.
Surface Protection Additives
In automobile motor oils there are five kinds of problems that additives address
with regard to surfaces. First, there are antiwear agents. These would include various
phosphates, organic sulfur and chlorine compounds, sulfurized fats, sulfides and
disulfides. These various compounds reduce friction and wear, and help prevent scoring
or seizure. Through chemical processes they help prevent metal-to-metal contact.
Corrosion and rust inhibitors like zinc dithiophosphates (a multi-purpose additive),
metal phenolates, fatty acids and amines are used to prevent corrosion and rust
on the internal metal parts of the engine.
Detergents keep surfaces free of deposits. By use of metallo-organic compounds of
sodium, calcium and magnesium phenolates, phosphonates and sulfanates varnishes
and sludge are neutralized and maintained in a soluble state.
Dispersants, such as alkylsuccinimides, alkylsuccinic esters and mannich reaction
products, keep insoluble contaminants dispersed in the lubricant. Contaminants are
bonded by polar attraction to dispersant molecules, preventing them from agglomerating.
Friction modifiers alter an oils coefficient of friction. Typical friction modifiers
include organic fatty acids and amides, high molecular weight organic phosphorus
and phosphoric acid esters.
Performance Additives
A second class of additives includes those compounds that improve the oils performance.
Pour point depressants, which are not required in high quality synthetics due to
their low temperature capabilities, enable lubricants to flow at lower temperatures
by modifying wax crystal formation, thereby reducing interlocking. The compounds
used for this function include alkylated napthalene and phenolic polymers, polymethacrylates,
and certain copolymer esters.
Seal swell agents help to swell elastomeric seals by causing a chemical reaction
in the elastomer. Organic phosphates and aromatic hydrocarbons are sometimes used
to achieve this effect.
Viscosity modifiers help reduce the rate of viscosity change when temperatures rise
or drop. Polymers and copolymers of olefins tend to expand as the temperature rises,
counteracting against the tendency of oil to thin. Other compounds used for this
function include methacrylates, dienes and alkylated styrenes.
Protective Additives
There are also three types of protective additives. Antifoamants reduce surface
tension and speed the collapse of foam. Foam is an enemy of effective lubrication.
Wherever air can get into an active fluid system it has a tendency to get trapped
or swirled in, with billowing or foaming the end result. Without defoamers, you
would have foam gurgling out of the dipstick when customers came in for an oil change.
To fight foam oil formulators add silicone polymers or organic copolymers.
Antioxidants slow down the rate of oxidation by decomposing peroxides and terminating
free-radical reactions. Zinc dithiophosphates, hindered phenols, aromatic amines
and sulfurized phenols are used to this end.
Metal deactivators are used to reduce catalytic effect of metals on the oxidation
rate. In other words, without organic complexes containing nitrogen or sulfur, amines,
sulfides and phosphites, the rate of oxidation would speed along unchecked. These
compounds form form an inactive film on metal surfaces by complexing with metallic
ions.
Whats Goin On?
In short, motor oil has a lot of stuff in it these days. It is not a haphazard concoction
of chemicals just thrown together. As you can see, many of the compounds in motor
oil are designed to interact with what is going on inside an engine. But many compounds
are selected so that they will not interfere with their designated functions. That
is to say, formulators are chemists who must carefully consider the way these various
chemistries interact with each other, not just the context they individually work
in.
One example is the battle
between corrosion inhibitors and antiwear additives. Sometimes
these additives battle for sites on a metal surface. If you use too much corrosion
and rust inhibitor the antiwear properties of an oil can be diminished.
It is important to realize that additive chemistries can themselves have disadvantages
as well as advantages. The usage of various additives involves tradeoffs. Here are
just some examples of negative side effects additive may possess.
- Detergents and anti-wear additives can promote deposit formation in high temperature
areas.
- Detergents and dispersants can promote foaming and minimize the effectiveness of
anti-foaming additives.
- Certain additives can cause corrosion when exposed to high temperature.
- Too much anti-foaming additive will in itself result in foaming.
Conclusions
.Today's additive systems are quite sophisticated. Because they can be sensitive
and negatively affected by the addition of other chemicals some experts feel that
lubricants of different brands or types should never be mixed. Nevertheless, motor
oils are considered compatible with each other in todays market.
The rule of thumb here is that if an application does not require an additive do
not use it. This holds true especially for aftermarket additives. Motor oil formulators
go to great lengths to build balanced systems that meet pre-designed targets. Not
only the choice of chemistries, but the concentration at which an additive is used
will have a major impact both on how well a lubricant performs a task and on its
cost.
AMSOIL INC. uses only the highest quality additives and thoroughly understands how
each interact. Not only are the specific basestocks selected for their ability to
provide extended drain intervals, but the additive package plays a vital role in
a lubricants performance as well. As car manufacturers demand longer motor oil drain
intervals, these aspects of lubricant performance will become increasingly important
to all motor oil manufacturers.