SYNTHETIC LUBRICANTS AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE ...

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vi Preface to the First Edition Some chapters in this section of the book deal with industrial markets, whereas other chapters deal with economic and environmental trends. The chapters on industrial markets deal with: Current Equipment and Fluids Developmental Equipment and Fluids Long-range Trends I am particularly pleased to be able to conclude this book with a chapter on the environmental impact associated with the use of synthetics. There are two critical areas of concern. The first involves the conservation of our planet’s limited supply of natural resources. Synthetics extend these assets not only by simple replacement but, in many applications, by dramatically increasing service lifetimes. The second area of environmental concern involves toxicity and biodegradability. In both areas, synthetics are becoming recognized as environmentally responsible solutions to a sensitive issue. I wish to extend my gratitude to all of my colleagues and friends who encouraged and supported my efforts to bring this work together. Thanks also to Ethyl Corporation, the management of Ethyl’s Research and Development Division, and the Ethyl Industrial Chemicals Division for their support in this undertaking. I especially wish to thank those people in Ethyl’s Research and Developmental Department with whom I have had the good fortune to work on the PAO project. Special thanks also goes to Ms. Norma Delaune, who helped me in handling the correspondence and in preparation of the tables and graphs. Finally, a word of thanks to my wife, Swee—without her encouragement and understanding I could never have finished the project. Copyright © 1999 Marcel Dekker, Inc. Ronald L. Shubkin
Introduction The publication of the second edition of Synthetic Lubricants and High-Performance Functional Fluids comes at a milestone in the way we have chosen to record and order historical events. Very shortly we shall enter a new millennium in our accounting system—a time that seems appropriate to reflect on the past and prognosticate on the future. When we do this, we realize that we live in a time like no other. At no time in our history has change and real improvement in the human condition come at so rapid a pace. Even a subject as seemingly mundane as lubrication has shared in and significantly contributed to the exhilarating pace of progress. In the most fundamental sense, a lubricant may be defined as a substance that has the ability to reduce friction between two solid surfaces rubbed against each other. The use of natural products to achieve this effect dates to antiquity. Art decorations on the inner wall of the Egyptian tomb of Tehuti-Hetep (ca. 1650 B.C.) indicate that olive oil on wooden planks was used to facilitate the sliding of large stones, statues, and building materials. Egyptian chariots dating to 1400 B.C. have been uncovered that have small amounts of greasy materials, presumed to be either beef or mutton tallow, on the axles. In addition to animal fat and vegetable oil, petroleum products have been used for lubrication in a primitive fashion for more than a millennium. In fact, Herodotus (484–424 B.C.) described methods of producing bitumen and a lighter oil from petroleum. The first synthetic hydrocarbon oils were produced by the prominent chemists Charles Friedel and James Mason Crafts in 1877. Standard Oil Company of Indiana commercialized a synthetic hydrocarbon oil in 1929, but it was unsuccessful because of a lack of demand. However, the onset of World War II, and the subsequent shortages of petroleum feedstocks in Germany, France, and Japan, revitalized interest in synthetic lubricants. Moreover, the German disaster at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 demonstrated the inadequacy of petroleum products in extremely cold weather. Because the lubricants used in tanks, aircraft, and other military vehicles gelled, the engines used in the vehicles could not be started. An intense German research effort to find alternative lubricants ensued, which led to the first manufacture of synthetic products by olefin polymerization. Interest in ester-based lubricants appears to date back to the Zurich Aviation Congress in 1937. Triesters were later synthesized from fatty acids and trimethanolethane. These materials performed so well that more than 3500 esters were prepared and evaluated in Germany between 1938 and 1944. Meanwhile, the first diester base stocks were developed in the United States at the Naval Research Laboratory between 1942 and 1945. The British began using esters in 1947 as lubricants for turboprop aircraft, in which conventional mineral oils failed to give satisfactory performance at high temperatures. With the introduction of jet engines, the problem became even more complex because of the need for lubrication at very low temperatures to the front of the engine and at very high temperatures to the rear. The need for fire-resistant hydraulic fluids in aircraft further spurred the development of synthetics. Copyright © 1999 Marcel Dekker, Inc. vii
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