ABSTRACT
The composition of a lubricant, the precise combination of base oils and additives, needs to be established and evaluated against a set of requirements that meet customers’ demands. For each lubricant type, these requirements may be set by one or more international, national or original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM) specifications.
International specifications for lubricants are published by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Association des Constructeurs Européens d’Automobiles (ACEA), the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC), the Japanese Automotive Standards Organisation (JASO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). National specifications for lubricants are published by many organisations, including Deutsche Institut für Normung (DIN), Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA).
A large number of OEMs publish specifications for lubricants, including Ford, General Motors, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, PSA, Renault, MAN, Volvo, Cummins, Caterpillar, Siemens, Parker, Bosch Rexroth, Atlas Copco, Ingersol Rand, General Electric, Rolls Royce and, Mitsubishi.
For a lubricant to meet one or more of these specifications, it must be manufactured (that is, blended) correctly. Lubricants that are easier to blend are more likely to be blended correctly, so it is important for formulation chemists and lubricant development engineers to understand what happens in a blending plant and how to make formulations easier to blend. It is also important for lubricant blending plant staff to understand the complexities of developing new or improved lubricants that meet customers’ requirements.
