ABSTRACT
The use of animal fats to reduce friction and wear and tear of mechanical parts has been the practice from time immemorial. However, since the availability of petroleum sources, lubricants are now manufactured using petroleum stocks. Today’s lubricating oil is mainly composed of base hydrocarbon oil, lubricating base oil stock (LOBS), obtained from vacuum distillates after treatment in the refi nery, as discussed in Chapter 3, with some additives to meet the requirements for its end use. Synthetic base oils, such as polyalphaolefi ns, alkylated aromatics, polybutenes, and aliphatic diesters, are also used as base oils.
