"Source of this article: Science Popularization in China"

Metal working oil/liquid is composed of base oil and additives, of which base oil accounts for the majority of the proportion, 70~95% in pure oil type, and 30~85% in emulsion, microemulsion and other water-based processing fluids. Base oil is fundamental and additives are the key. Therefore, the selection of base oil plays a crucial role in metal working oil/liquid from the aspect of product performance and cost control.

Base oil can be mainly divided into:

First, mineral oil base oil

Mineral oil base oil is refined from crude oil, and its main production processes are: atmospheric or vacuum distillation, solvent deasphalting, solvent refining, solvent dewaxing, clay or hydrosupplementary refining. Mineral base oil is widely used in metal working fluid with a large amount (in the selection of metal working fluid base oil, mineral base oil accounts for more than 90%). The chemical composition of mineral base oils consists of high boiling point, high molecular weight hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon mixtures. Its composition is generally alkanes (straight chain, branched chain, multi-branched chain), cycloalkanes (single ring, double ring, polycyclic), aromatic hydrocarbons (single ring aromatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), naphthenic aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur containing organic compounds and colloidal, asphaltene and other non-hydrocarbon compounds.

Two, forming base oil

Synthetic base oil refers to the base oil synthesized by chemical methods. There are many kinds of synthetic base oil, common ones are: synthetic hydrocarbon, synthetic ester, polyether, silicone oil, fluorine oil, phosphate ester and so on. The synthetic base oil has the advantages of better thermal oxidation stability, higher thermal decomposition temperature and good low temperature resistance than mineral oil, which can ensure that the equipment components work in more demanding situations, but the cost is higher.

3. Plant base oil

Vegetable oil as a base oil has the following advantages: good lubricity and biodegradability, renewable resources and non-toxic, the price is lower than that of synthetic base oil, only 1.5~3 times of mineral oil, but the main disadvantage is that the thermal oxidation stability and hydrolysis stability are poor, and easy to breeding microorganisms lead to corruption, so its application is limited. Nevertheless, as companies today look for ways to reduce environmental pollution, a feature of which these "natural" lubricants have, vegetable oil base oils can still compete in some ways with more expensive, biodegradable synthetic esters, whose performance deficiencies can be remedied by improved growing techniques and the addition of appropriate additives.

Our company also has a lot of research in this field. Harmony and cooperation are the foundation of development. We hope that the society and environment will develop in a positive way.