AMSOIL Synthetics--Benefits
There are two key components that contribute to the benefits that AMSOIL synthetic lubricants provide: first, are the inherent natural benefits provided by the synthetic material; and second, is from the quality of base stocks and additives used. AMSOIL chooses to use only high quality base stocks and additives in our products. The following items are the key benefit areas that a consumer would receive from using AMSOIL synthetic lubricants in their equipment.
TEMPERATURE (Heat) CONTROL
Lubricated components are designed to operate across a range of temperatures, with the optimal operating range being a small part of the overall range. However, demands for more power, faster operation and more load carrying capacity often push actual operating temperatures above the optimal range. High temperature operation is often a cause of component failure and, even frequently, is a significant cause of component wear.
Because uniformly smooth synthetic lubricant molecules slip easily over one another, they are superior friction reducers to conventional lubricants. (Technically, because they slip more easily over one another, synthetics are said to have a lower "coefficient of friction" than conventional lubricants.) The less friction in a system, the less heat in it, too. Friction and heat are two major contributors to component failure and
wear. By controlling friction and heat more effectively, synthetics significantly reduce the incidence of component failure as well as the rate of component wear.
In addition, uniformly sized synthetic lubricant molecules allow for better heat transfer than conventional lubricant molecules. Some petroleum lubricant molecules are large and heavy, while others are small and light. As oil flows in a lubricated system, the small, light molecules tend to flow in the center of the oil stream while the large, heavy ones get stuck on the metal surfaces where they create a barrier against the movement of heat away from the component and into the oil stream. In effect, the large, heavy molecules work like a blanket around hot components. If those large, heavy molecules are chemically unstable, they may also breakdown and form deposits on component surfaces, making the blanketing affect even more pronounced.
Since synthetic lubricants have no large heavy molecules, they don't blanket hot components. Instead, every molecule is equally likely to touch the hot component surface and take some of its heat into the oil
stream, which carries the heat away from the component. Also, since synthetics tend to be chemically stable, they are not prone to form deposits.
VISCOSITY INDEX (VI)
Lubricant viscosity plays an important role in component efficiency and life expectancy. (Remember, viscosity is a measure of fluid flow.) If a component is lubricated with a fluid whose viscosity is too low, the component will not be protected adequately and will wear excessively. If the component is lubricated with a fluid in which the viscosity is too high for the application, the component will expend excess energy doing its job, which reduces efficiency and may affect the life of other components, such as motors.
"Viscosity index" is a number assigned to lubricants to describe how much their viscosity changes as temperature changes. The higher the viscosity index, the less the lubricant's viscosity changes. High viscosity index lubricants protect better and provide for greater efficiency than low viscosity index lubricants do because the high viscosity index fluids are more apt to retain the correct viscosity for the job, neither thickening as much in cold nor thinning as much in heat.
Synthetic lubricants have higher viscosity indexes than conventional lubricants, due, in part, to the uniformity of synthetic lubricant molecules. The large, heavy lubricant molecules in conventional lubricants tend to increase lubricant viscosity more in cold temperatures than smaller, lighter lubricant molecules do. Conventional lubricants also tend to thicken in cold temperatures more easily than synthetic lubricants do, again because of their large, heavy molecules. Since temperature affects the viscosity of conventional lubricants more than it does the viscosity of synthetic lubricants, conventional lubricants have a lower viscosity index than synthetics.
THERMAL AND OXIDATIVE STABILITY
Heat and oxidation are the primary enemies of lubricant base stocks, especially conventional petroleum base stocks. Once heat or oxidation cause a lubricant to breakdown, the lubricant must be replaced or the
equipment or vehicle may be damaged by a lack of lubrication or by chemical attack. The excellent resistance of synthetic lubricants to thermal and oxidative breakdown allows them to be safely used for much longer drain intervals than conventional lubricants. In fact, most AMSOIL synthetic motor oils may be used for 25,000 miles or one year under normal operating conditions.
Some of the chemicals in conventional lubricants break down at temperatures within the normal operating range of many vehicle and equipment components. Some are prone to break down in these relatively mild temperatures if oxygen is present, which it almost invariably is in vehicles and equipment. These thermally and oxidatively unstable contaminants do not help the lubrication process in any way. They are present in conventional oils because removing them is impossible or too expensive.
When the contaminants in conventional oil break down, they coat components with varnish, deposits and sludge and leave the lubricant thick, hard to pump and with very poor heat transfer ability. Because synthetic lubricants do not contain contaminants, they are much more resistant to thermal and oxidative breakdown. That means they can be used in higher temperatures than conventional oils without breaking down and that they are impervious to breakdown at normal operating temperatures. With synthetics, components stay varnish-free, deposit-free and sludge-free. In addition, because thermally and oxidatively stable lubricants retain their fluidity, pumpability and original heat transfer abilities, they protect and lubricate better for longer periods of time.
COLD TEMPERATURE FLUIDITY
Many are familiar with paraffin wax from its everyday uses such as in canning fruits and vegetables and in children's craft projects. It is used because it hardens at room temperature. Conventional lubricants often contain paraffin, which cause the lubricants to thicken in cold temperatures as the paraffin gels.
To truly be effective, a lubricant must flow readily throughout the system in all temperatures to protect the moving parts. If it doesn't, metal on metal contact occurs and wear results. Lubricants containing
paraffin become thickened in the cold and lose their ability to flow readily, or sometimes to flow at all. In fact, at startup, conventional oils may leave working parts unprotected for as long as five minutes - plenty of time for significant wear to occur.
Synthetic lubricants do not contain paraffin or other waxes that thicken dramatically in cold temperatures. Synthetic lubricants flow readily in extremely cold temperatures, much colder than those at which conventional oils flow, which provides rapid post-startup lubrication and protection, keeping startup wear in check.
The superior cold temperature fluidity of synthetic lubricants also helps engines start more dependably in cold temperatures than they do with conventional oils. Cold thickened conventional oils sometimes hinder the rotation of the crankshaft so much that it cannot rotate fast enough to start the engine.
FRICTION CONTROL
The "goal" of the engine and drive train is to maximize the transfer of the energy released from fuel combustion to the wheels to move the vehicle. The engine and drive train accomplish their goal mechanically. Each mechanical component has moving parts that require lubrication for friction, heat and wear control. While parts move with significantly reduced friction when a lubricant separates them, the lubricant itself contributes some friction to the system, due to the way its molecules slip over one
another. Engineered molecules are designed to flow as smoothly as possible over one another which is another reason that they are superior.
These uniform, smooth synthetic lubricant molecules, slip across one another easily minimizing friction. This in turn, improves power and fuel economy because more of the energy released from fuel combustion reaches the drive train, which turns the wheels and moves the vehicle. The vehicle accelerates more quickly and powerfully because more of the fuel goes to moving the vehicle rather than to overcoming friction. The vehicle also works more efficiently, getting better fuel economy (more miles to the gallon) for the same reason - more of the fuel goes to moving the vehicle than to overcoming friction.
LOW VOLATILITY
The small, light molecules in conventional lubricants "boil off" at relatively low temperatures: just as one would put less energy into throwing a light ball into the air than you do a heavy one, so light molecules require less energy, in the form of heat, to lift out of solution and into the air than heavier molecules do. The tendency of a liquid to boil off is referred to as its "volatility." Conventional lubricants are more volatile than synthetic oils are.
Volatility affects more than the rate of oil consumption. Because the light molecules are lost through volatility, volatile oils tend to grow thick with use, which makes them hard to pump. The harder the oil pump works, the more energy it consumes, which reduces fuel economy, and the quicker the pump wears out. Plus, parts require more energy to move through thicker oil than they do through thinner oil. All the energy spent on pumping thick oil and moving parts through thick oil is energy lost, and performance and
fuel economy suffer.
Synthetic lubricants lose very little to volatility, because their molecules are uniformly sized. None are smaller and lighter than others and therefore more susceptible to boiling off. The low volatility of synthetic lubricants keeps performance and fuel economy at their peak.
Predictive maintenance is a growing practice in commercial and industrial applications. Predictive maintenance practice calls for oil drain intervals based on oil analysis. As a result, commercial and industrial lubricant users of AMSOIL synthetic lubricants are finding their lubricant drain intervals may be substantially increased with no danger to their vehicles and equipment. The practice of extending drain intervals saves them money on used oil disposal costs and replacement oil costs, and most importantly, it saves them downtime.
"Downtime" to a motorist may mean inconvenience - a lost Saturday afternoon changing oil or having to take the bus while the car is being serviced. The value of a Saturday afternoon or the convenience of having the car may be very high.
"Downtime" to a commercial or industrial fleet is money lost to reduced productivity.
BENEFITS SUMMARY
Because AMSOIL only uses high quality base stocks and additives, our synthetic lubricants perform dramatically better in any environment than petroleum based lubricants can.
