Abstract for STLE Houston 2002 Conference: The Interaction of Lubricant Degradation and Tribology in Automotive Gasoline Engines
Harold Gillespie, Eiji Nagatomi, Ian Taylor,
Shell Global Solutions, Shell Research Ltd, PO Box 1, Chester, CH1 3SH, UK
Richard Gamble, Martin Priest, Christopher Taylor
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Christopher Hammond, John Lindsay Smith, Moray Stark, David Waddington
Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
This work aims is to develop a good understanding of lubricant base fluid degradation in automotive gasoline engines and how this affects engine tribology. Therefore an integrated model has been developed that describes both the lubricant flow within the piston assembly and the chemical degradation of the lubricant.
Experiments with a Ricardo Hydra gasoline engine have been performed using only a hydrocarbon base fluid as lubricant, with no additive package. Oil extraction from the ring pack has allowed the residence time of oil in the ring pack and the flow rate of oil from the sump to the ring pack to be determined; these are compared with oil transport models. The rate of oxidation of the base fluid has been determined by FTIR spectroscopy; the rate of base fluid oxidation compares well with simulations using a chemical model based on detailed free radical chemistry.
The author is a research chemist with a background in studying chemical kinetics. Previous topics of investigation have been in the field of hydrocarbon combustion and process development in chemical engineering. This background is now being used to study the breakdown of lubricants in gasoline engines.