ABSTRACT
The two-stroke engine has always been a popular power source. The growing demand for engine performance has resulted in a demand for high quality, fully synthetic products. The first application of esters for reasons of biodegradability has been for two-stroke outboard oils. Esters do provide excellent lubricity due to the presence of polar carboxylic groups, giving better adhesiveness to the metal surface. The test results clearly demonstrate the positive influence of esters on engine cleanliness, resulting in a high performance chainsaw engine oil when using a 100 % ester base fluid. Using a particular ester it is possible to formulate a high dilution, low pollution outboard oil with good potential for air-cooled applications as well. Finally, chainsaw engine test results are reported with partly and fully synthetic ester based formulations. In these small but critical engines esters show again a most promising performance.
