Components of a Lubricant and How are Synthetic Oils Different?

Lubricants are generally composed of two groups of materials. The first is a base or stock fluid.  This fluid will make up 75-95 percent of the finished product. The most commonly used stocks today are derived from petroleum crude oil. Other stocks are derived from chemical synthesizing.  These stocks are also referred to as mineral or synthetic oils.

To this, base or stock chemical compounds may be added to enhance or impart new properties to the mineral oil.  These compounds  are commonly referred to as additives.  The use of such special chemical compounds is another way to minimize friction and wear.  The main role of these compounds is to offer protection when the lubricating fluid can not maintain component separation.

How Are Synthetic Oils Different?

Although the engineering of each synthetic base stock varies depending on the particular stock, synthetics are generally made through a reaction process.  This reaction process significantly improves the consistency of the stock and its molecular uniformity. Mineral stocks, on the other hand, are obtained through a process of distillation.

Distillation slightly limits the molecular diversity  that may exist within the stock , but does not completely eliminate nonessential molecular structures.  This is important because unnecessary molecular structures produce variations in the stock's performance.  The ideal lubricants chemical composition is one in which the molecular construction is identical throughout, such as in a synthetic base stock.  Because of the way synthetic stocks are produced, they are molecularly uniform and contain significantly less undesirable materials than a mineral base stock.

Molecular uniformity also affects the properties that each type of lubricant possesses.  The properties of mineral oils tend to vary due to inconsistencies in the crude from which they are obtained.  The properties and performance features of synthetics, on the other hand, are very predictable.  Once again, this is due to their molecular uniformity.

AMSOIL synthetic lubricants are formulated to take advantage of the superior properties of synthetic base stocks.  They provide excellent lubrication and wear protection and have been designed to resist the chemical breakdown processes that limit the service life of conventional mineral-based oils.

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