ABSTRACT
Almost all modern lubricants contain additives, to enhance and/or correct the properties and performance of the base oils described in Chapters 2 and 3. The reasons for using additives and their various types are described and discussed in this chapter.
There are many thousands of additives used in lubricants. They are usually grouped into those that provide the same or similar lubricant performance improvements. The additives in each group may be similar chemically, but often they are not. While the chemistry of additives can be very important, it is their performance properties in lubricant formulations that are more important. Unlike many other products, lubricants are developed and marketed based on their performance properties, not their chemical composition.
It is particularly important for managers, supervisors and operators in a lubricant blending plant to understand that almost all additives are unique, even if they differ from a chemically similar additive by only small amounts. It is not usually easy to swap one additive for another in a lubricant formulation.
