A critical appraisal is made of the applications of vegetable oils, the fatty esters complex and synthetic esters as rapidly biodegradable and non-toxic lubricants and fuels in the developed countries of America, Europe and Asia.The criteria employed for assessing the toxicity and biodegradability of the various fluids and limits set by various state and regional organizations are reviewed. The properties of vegetable oils, fatty esters, chemically modified esters and synthetic esters relevant for performance as lubricants in various applications such as hydraulic oils, refrigeration oils, chainsaw lubricants, metalworking fluids, engine oils, two-stroke oils, mould release lubricants, greases, gear and transmission oils vis-à-vis conventional mineral oils and greases for corresponding applications are compared. The advantages, such as high lubricity, viscosity-temperature relationship, low lubricant consumption, energy efficiency combined with public health, safety and environmental contamination, more than offset the disadvantages of initial costs in most of these applications.It has been suggested that modified and stabilized oils of wasteland and forest origin and other non-edible oils and their chemically modified derivatives can be produced at relatively cheaper cost than similar oils marketed in the developed world and can be introduced in India with immense environmental and performance benefits, particularly in applications involving high environmental contamination safety and public health.When blended with highly refined diesel fuels, methyl esters can work as highly efficient environment-friendly fuels particularly for applications in passenger transport, light commercial vehicles and generators.
The friction‐ and wear‐reducing characteristics of a number of oil soluble sulphurised and phosphosulphurised derivatives for automotive and industrial applications have been reviewed. A critical appraisal of the suggested causes and mechanism of friction reduction and antiwear characteristics has been made. A review of the investigations carried out so far indicates that the creation of in situ films of simple inorganic salts, such as molybdenum disulphide, iron sulphide or phosphates of low shear strength and lamellar structures, does not appear to be the primary cause of low friction and wear.
The authors have, therefore, undertaken a programme to synthesise and study the chemistry and tribochemical reactions in relation to friction and wear characteristics of hydrocarbon‐soluble thiophosphoro derivatives of alkyl phenol, alcohols and fatty esters, in order to establish relationships between the reactivity, chemical nature and crystal structure of films formed on rubbing surfaces, and antifriction and antiwear characteristics. Molybdenum salts of various phosphorothio derivatives of pentadecylphenol and lauryl oleate of specific structures have been synthesised, and the friction and wear properties of their blends in mineral oil base stock have been studied. It can be clearly inferred from the results that type of bonding between sulphur, phosphorus and molybdenum, and reactivity of these derivatives with rubbing surfaces, determine their friction‐reducing and antiwear characteristics. Their reactivity with iron and the nature of films formed are under investigation.
Studies on surface reactivity of substrate iron (Fe-particles) were made in the tribo-chemical environment of alkyl octadecenoates. Two alkyl octadecenoates namely ethyl octadecenoate and methyl 12-hydroxy octadecenoate, slightly different in their chemical nature, were taken for preparing the chemisorbed reaction films (CRF) at the temperature 100 ± 5°C. The reaction products collected in the composite (amorphous) phase were isolated into three different solvent-soluble fractions (sub-layer films) using polar solvents of increasing polar strength. The FTIR analysis of these films showed that these were primarily organic in nature and were composed of alkyl and/or aryl hydroxy ethers, unsaturated hydroxy ketones, and aromatic structures chemically linked with iron surface. These reaction films also contained large amount of iron (Fe). Further, these film fractions also showed varying thermal behaviour during thermal decomposition in the temperature range of 50-800°C when thermally evaluated in the nitrogen environment.
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