Tribology International: Jun Cui, Sonia Oberoi, Stuart Briggs, Isabella Goldmints
Tribology International: Jun Cui, Sonia Oberoi, Stuart Briggs, Isabella Goldmints
Tribology International: Jun Cui, Sonia Oberoi, Stuart Briggs, Isabella Goldmints
Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint
art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: In this paper the design and architectural features of a new viscosity modifier (VM) with the optimal
Received 30 November 2015 balance between fuel economy and durability are explored. The viscometric properties of the new VM
Received in revised form and fuel economy performance are described and demonstrated in a range of diesel engines, both in
30 March 2016
passenger vehicles in the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and in a mid-size diesel engine under a
Accepted 31 March 2016
Available online 7 April 2016
variety of heavy duty driving conditions. In both FE tests, up to 2% fuel economy improvements were
consistently observed for the lubricant oils formulated with the new FE VM. In addition, the durability in
Keywords: sooted environment is addressed which is now critical for both passenger car and heavy duty diesel oils,
Viscosity modifiers and the VM's role in soot-induced viscosity increase as related to both retained fuel efficiency and soot-
Fuel economy
induced wear is demonstrated. The new VM delivers additional control of soot-induced viscosity control
Durability
in bench screening tests, where the oil viscosity was reduced by an order of magnitude at 9% soot loading
condition. Furthermore, in both Peugeot DV6 and Mack T11 tests the kinematic viscosity of the highly
sooted oils was reduced by more than 50% at the end of the tests after replacing the conventional VM
with the new FE VM. Lastly, wear and durability performance is demonstrated in both engine screening
tests and heavy duty engine tests, where the new FE VM helps maintain the low soot-induced wear and
the outstanding engine cleanliness.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction the engine. These enhanced lubricant viscosity profiles have been
shown to result in improved fuel efficiency and excellent wear
With tightening of emission regulations due to environmental protection [6,7] in both gasoline and diesel engines.
concerns, the requirements for vehicle fuel efficiency continue to However, the viscosity of the lubricant in-service is affected by
increase. Meeting these requirements has been a challenging task many factors, including mechanical shear, fuel dilution, oxidation,
for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) leading to engine and soot loading. Of these, oxidation and soot in the lubricant can
downsizing and introduction of new hardware to improve vehicle result in viscosity increase and the loss of lubricant derived fuel
fuel efficiency. However, engine development usually requires economy [9]. Moreover, it has been shown in multiple studies that
large investment and long cycle time. A complimentary approach when soot in the lubricant is not properly dispersed it would not
to gaining additional fuel efficiency is in designing lubricants to only result in viscosity increase but also in abrasive wear [10–17].
minimize frictional energy losses in the engine. Multiple studies which included engine and field tests have shown
A common route to obtain fuel economy from the lubricant is the importance of good soot dispersancy for wear protection in
to reduce its viscosity [1–5]. However this route leads to concerns both heavy duty diesel (HDD) as well as in passenger car diesel
engines [18]. To address this, a number of tests to measure lubri-
about engine durability and wear protection expected from the
cant performance with respect to viscosity increase and soot-
lubricant. To optimize both parameters, fuel efficiency and wear,
derived wear of the engine parts have been developed.
lubricant viscosity profiles have been developed using special
To prevent soot aggregation and thus viscosity increase and
Viscosity Modifiers (VM) [6–8]. In these cases viscosity is mini-
wear in diesel engines, either traditional dispersants or dispersant
mized at the range of temperatures characteristic of a typical
VMs, or both are used. It has been shown that some non-
driving cycle. However at the peak temperatures these special VMs
dispersant VMs containing aromatic functional groups can pro-
are designed to provide the necessary viscosity boost to protect vide additional dispersancy to the engine lubricant [19,20]. The
use of these VMs is especially relevant in lower viscosity oils
n
Corresponding author. where the use of high concentrations of traditional dispersants can
E-mail address: jun.cui@infineum.com (J. Cui). be limited by viscometric constraints. Thus the development of a
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2016.03.038
0301-679X/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
44 J. Cui et al. / Tribology International 101 (2016) 43–48
Relative Viscosity
Yet another aspect of the VM performance in diesel engine oil is New FE HSD
in its ability to minimize oil related deposits. In general, polymers
can contribute to deposit formation in the engine, and the higher 2
the concentration of the polymer, the more deposits are expected
to form, provided the additive package is the same. Thus a low
treat rate of the viscosity modifier in the engine lubricant is one of 1.5
the keys to preventing deposit formation. This prevention of
deposit formation [21] from the polymer can potentially enable
lower treat of detergent and other deposit control additives. 1
However, the polymer concentration is not the only parameter 0 50 100 150
that affects lubricant-related deposit formation in the engine. The Temperature (°C)
particular chemistry of the polymer plays a significant role. Fig. 1. Relative viscosity as a function of temperature for oils with conventional
In this paper, a VM polymer design that optimizes the lubricant HSD, PMA, and new FE HSD.
viscosity–temperature profile to minimize the viscosity at in-
service temperatures and to provide necessary viscosity at peak
temperatures is presented. When using a lubricant with this VM, Table 1
Structure and composition of the viscosity modifiers used in the study.
fuel economy improvement of up to 2% can be obtained in both
passenger car and mid-size diesel engines. In addition, this VM can Name Description Architecture
provide credits in soot-related viscosity increase in both passenger
car and HDD engines, as well as play a role in soot-induced wear Conventional HSD Hydrogenated poly(styrene-diene) Star
control. Finally, the low treat rate of this VM allows one to for- New FE HSD Hydrogenated poly(styrene-diene) Star
PMA Polymethacrylate Linear
mulate the oil with good deposit control. FE PMA Polymethacrylate Comb
Table 2 2
Viscometric properties of SAE 5W-30 oils formulated with conventional HSD, FE
New FE HSD
100 5W-30 reference oil under NEDC in three passenger vehicles with diesel engines.
200
Vehicle Speed (km/h)
Vehicle Speed Note: Vehicle 1 – Opel Insignia with A20DTH engine, 2.0 l; Vehicle 2 – Mercedes-
Benz C 320 CDI, 3.0 l, V6; Vehicle 3 – Mercedes-Benz C 250 CDI, 2.1 l, 4 cylinders.
80 160
60 120 100
40 80
80
20 40
0 0 Load (%) 60
0 500 1000
Time (second)
Fig. 2. NEDC profile – oil sump temperature and vehicle speed over time. 40
the range between 80 and 100 °C. The exact temperature profile
depends upon the vehicle used for testing. 20
The tests are run on a MAHA 4-wheel-drive chassis dynam-
ometer, with the vehicle exhaust directed through a gas analyzer.
Euro V specified fuel is used for all the tests. Fuel consumption is 0
0 50 100
calculated by analyzing the carbon dioxide content of the exhaust
Speed (%)
gas. The measurement of each candidate oil was repeated four
times and a reference oil (with four repeated runs) was run before Fig. 4. Testing conditions in the 6.5l GM fuel economy engine test.
and after the candidate oil to ensure reproducibility of the result.
Fuel economy improvement (FEI) is calculated based on the driving conditions utilized by heavy duty diesel trucks. It consists
average fuel consumption of the candidate oil relative to the of 17 different load/speed/temperature stages (shown in Fig. 4).
average fuel consumption of the reference oil. The calculation to predict fuel economy improvement (FEI) for
In the chassis dyno NEDC test, a separate study was performed specific driving conditions from the data from the load/speed
to investigate the repeatability of the test. Based on regression stages were developed by selecting the FEI results from particular
analysis, the standard deviation for FEI in this data set is 0.18%. For stages and multiplying by pre-determined factors. This is also
the observed difference between two oils to be considered sta- known as “weighting” and is a common way of predicting FEI from
tistically significant, the FEI must be 0.49% or greater [8]. speed/ load maps. The reference oil was run before and after the
Three different vehicles were used to measure the fuel econ- candidate oil. A Newtonian oil with HTHS at 150 °C of 3.5 cP was
omy performance of the oils with new FE HSD and conventional chosen as the reference oil. All candidate oils were SAE 5W-40
HSD. Both oils were formulated with a mid-SAPS additive package grade formulated with the same additive package at equal HTHS at
to the same HTHS at 150 °C of 3.5 cP. The fuel economy improve- 150 °C of 3.5 cP. The fuel economy improvements of the candidate
ment results are shown in Fig. 3. Compared to the reference oil oils relative to the reference oil are described in Fig. 5.
(SAE 5W-30 grade, HTHS at 150 °C of 3.5 cP), both oils show Compared to the reference oil, all three candidate oils show
positive fuel economy improvements in all three vehicles, indi- positive fuel economy improvements in all three different driving
cating better fuel efficiency of the candidate oils. In addition, by conditions. Comparing the three VMs, the new FE HSD gave the
replacing the conventional HSD with the new FE HSD, more than highest fuel economy improvements, followed by PMA, while
0.5% additional fuel economy improvement was observed in all conventional HSD gave the least. In terms of different driving
three vehicles, demonstrating the robustness of the fuel economy conditions, the FE credits of the new FE HSD are more pronounced
additive technology. in high idle and line haul than off road.
3.2. Fuel economy measurements in 6.5 l GM diesel engine 4. Soot handling and viscosity control
Fuel economy performance was further demonstrated in a 6.5 l To maintain high fuel economy performance in the diesel
GM diesel engine. The engine test was designed to mimic different environment, it is critical to control viscosity not only in the fresh
46 J. Cui et al. / Tribology International 101 (2016) 43–48
2.5 1
New FE HSD
New FE HSD
0.8
FEI (%) over Reference Oil
Viscosity (Pa·s)
PMA 0.6 FE PMA
1.5
0.4
1
0.2
0.5
0
10 100 1000
0 Shear Rate (1/s)
High Idle Off Road Line Haul
Fig. 6. Viscosity at 100 °C as a function of shear rate of SAE 5W-30 grade candidate
Fig. 5. Percentage of fuel economy improvement of candidate oils over Newtonian oils blended with 9% carbon black.
reference oil (with HTHS150 at 3.5 cP) under a range of heavy duty driving con-
ditions in the 6.5 l GM engine.
50
oil, but also in the aged oil. In a diesel engine, aged oil can contain Conventional HSD
a significant amount of soot particles due to incomplete combus-
40 New FE HSD
tion. At high soot levels agglomerated soot particles may cause
significant viscosity increase and lead to an undesired drop in fuel
KV100 (cSt)
efficiency. As a result, controlling viscosity of the lubricant at high 30
soot loading conditions is important for consistent delivery of fuel
economy performance. 20
Unlike dispersant viscosity modifiers which have nitrogen or
oxygen containing dispersant functionalities, the new FE HSD VM
is only comprised of carbon and hydrogen, however, with some 10
aromatic content that can deliver soot dispersancy credits [19,20].
In this section, these soot handling credits and thus viscosity 0
and fuel efficiency control of the new HSD VM are demonstrated in 0 2 4 6 8
bench screening test, as well as in industry passenger car diesel Soot (%)
and heavy duty diesel engine tests. Fig. 7. KV100 change as a function of soot content from Peugeot DV6 light duty
diesel engine test.
4.1. Carbon black Haake rheology measurements
remains constant over the range of shear rates, indicating that the
To mimic the highly sooted environment in a diesel engine, a new FE HSD has a significant effect on dispersion of carbon black
bench screening test using a Haake rheometer was first performed. particles to prevent the formation of the large agglomeration and
Three oils with different VMs formulated with the same mid-SAPS viscosity increase.
additive package to SAE 5W-30 grade at HTHS at 150 °C of 3.5 cP
were evaluated. Carbon black which has similar particle size and 4.2. Peugeot DV6 light duty diesel engine test (CEC L-106-14) [26]
surface properties to soot generated in diesel engine was used in
this experiment. Nine percent of carbon black was loaded into the The soot credits of the new FE HSD were further tested in an
oils and mixed overnight at 95 °C to mimic the high soot loading engine. A Peugeot DV6 light duty diesel engine test was per-
condition of aged oils. The viscosity of the carbon black containing formed, which represents severe diesel engine conditions in pas-
oils was measured at 100 °C over a range of shear rates to simulate senger vehicles and can generate soot up to 6.5% at the end of the
the operating conditions in the diesel engine environment. Soot test. The oils were blended with mid-SAPS experimental passenger
particles tend to minimize their surface energy by aggregating into vehicle additive technology and two different VMs to compare the
larger entities in the oil. Dispersant is used to cover the surface of performance of new FE HSD to conventional HSD.
soot particles and thus prevent agglomeration. At high shear rates As shown in Fig. 7, the two oils started at the same KV100 at
there is sufficient external energy input to prevent smaller soot the beginning of the test. As the soot level increases, viscosity of
particles from aggregating even if the surface coverage is low and the oil formulated with conventional HSD increases with soot,
there is still potential for aggregation. However, at low shear rates while the oil with new FE HSD shows a small increase in viscosity
the energy input might not be sufficient to prevent this aggrega- over the entire test up to 6.5% soot level. This result further con-
tion. A VM with affinity for the soot surface can contribute to firms the soot handling credits of the new FE HSD.
additional surface coverage. While the non-dispersant VM by itself
cannot completely prevent the aggregation it can provide syner- 4.3. Mack T11 heavy duty diesel test (ASTM D7156 [27])
gistic benefit to the dispersant. The results of the experiments are
shown in Fig. 6. In addition the soot credits of the new FE HSD were further
Oils with conventional HSD and FE PMA both show increasing demonstrated under heavy duty diesel conditions with even
viscosity as the shear rate decreases indicating that there is higher soot levels in a Mack T11 engine test. To show the effect of
agglomeration of carbon black particles at the lower shear rate. As VM we chose an SAE 5W-30 heavy duty diesel engine oil which
the shear rate increases, the agglomerates break down and visc- demonstrated borderline performance at the API CJ-4 limit in the
osity decreases. In contrast, for the oil with new FE HSD, viscosity Mack T11 test when formulated with conventional HSD VM. We
J. Cui et al. / Tribology International 101 (2016) 43–48 47
then replaced the VM with the new FE HSD. The results of the 200
Mack T11 test are shown in Fig. 8. The new FE HSD showed better
New FE HSD
control of soot-induced viscosity increase comfortably passing the
test. Thus in both, light duty and heavy duty diesel engine tests, 150 Conventional HSD
the new FE HSD VM provided additional control of soot-induced
Wear (micron)
viscosity increase, which helps to retain the fuel economy benefits
of the fresh oil. 100
Wear (micron)
screener a motored single ISB cam lobe and a tappet is used. The
valve train wear screener uses a motored full camshaft and tappet 100
set in the ISB block. In both tests, candidate oils were aged prior to
testing in the fired heavy duty engine to generate approximately
5% soot. In this study, an experimental heavy duty diesel engine oil 50
formulation was chosen and the wear performance was compared
when using either the new FE HSD or conventional HSD in both
cam and tappet tests. Both oils were formulated as SAE 5W-30 0
grade with equal HTHS viscosities at 150 °C of 3.5 cP to eliminate Cam Tappet
the impact of viscosity.
Fig. 10. Results of cam and tappet wear from the Cummins ISB valve train
The result of the single cam screening test is shown in Fig. 9. screening test.
Compared to conventional HSD, the new FE HSD VM shows a
significant cam wear credit, almost one order of magnitude cam surface. Quantifying the effect of soot-induced wear on var-
reduction in cam wear, and it delivers comparable performance in ious surfaces will be subject of future investigations.
the tappet wear. Both of the current screening tests indicate that the new FE
Similarly, in the valve train wear screening test (shown in HSD can also provide credits in soot-induced wear in a heavy duty
Fig. 10), significant cam wear reduction was observed in the oil diesel engine.
with the new FE HSD.
The surface properties of the cam and the tappet are different,
most noticeably in hardness. Because the hardness of the tappet is 6. Engine cleanliness performance
usually higher than that of the cam, it is possible that the soot-
induced abrasion affects the cam surface more than the tappet. In addition to fuel economy and wear control, another impor-
When a better soot dispersion system is introduced reducing soot tant function of lubricant oils is to maintain engine cleanliness
aggregation, the impact on soot-induced wear is higher on the during the drain interval. VMs can contribute to deposit formation,
leading to detrimental impact to engine cleanliness. The tendency
40 of VM to form deposits depends on several factors such as its
chemistry and solubility in the base oil, but mostly depends to the
35 Conventional HSD
VM treat rate, or VM concentration in the oil. Higher amounts of
Viscosity Increase (cSt)
30 New FE HSD VM can lead to more deposit formation, and thus worse piston
cleanliness performance. In this section, engine tests are per-
25 API CJ-4 Limit formed to evaluate the engine cleanliness performance of the new
FE HSD and that no detrimental effects of the VM on engine
20
cleanliness and deposit formation are demonstrated.
15
6.1. Daimler OM501LA Engine Test (CEC L-099-08 [28])
10
Table 3 oil formulated with the new VM also helps maintain low soot-
Performance of oils with new FE HSD in the OM501LA engine test. induced wear, demonstrated in the engine screening test. Lastly,
the new FE HSD VM is able to control deposit, maintaining engine
ACEA E6 New FE Conventional HSD
limits HSD cleanliness.