Environmentally adapted hydraulic oils

Abstract A comparison has been carried out between one mineral based hydraulic oil and three environmentally adapted hydraulic oils. Two of these are semi-synthetic oils, i.e. mixtures of vegetable base oil and synthetic esters, and the last is based on synthetic esters only. Technical properties such as viscosity, pour point etc., and chemical properties such as phosphorus and sulphur content etc. were documented using standard test methods. The lubricant capability properties were determined through measurements of the capability of each oil to build a film in an elastohydrodynamic contact. The oil film thickness is important to avoid wear and failure and to guarantee separation of surfaces. The results show that at 40 °C the environmentally adapted oils give a thicker film than the mineral oil. At 80 °C there is no significant difference between the different types of oil in their capability to build a lubricating film. The maximum shear strength was measured and these results are presented with the constant of proportionality γ , from the theoretical model τ ≈ γ p , which is valid at very high pressures. The measurements were carried out at contact pressures in the range 5–7 GPa. The results show that all environmentally adapted oils give a lower γ value than the mineral oil, which is an advantage since a low shear strength results in lower friction in highly loaded contacts. Measurements of toxicity to aquatic organisms ( Daphnia magna ) show very large differences between the tested oils, and this implies that a change from a mineral oil to an environmentally adapted oil can give important environmental advantages.