Abstract
The lubricating performance of 23 kinds of polyol ester base oils 〔POEs〕 having different branch shapes was investigated by using a four ball tribometer under boundary lubrication condition. All the polyol ester base oils used in this study were made up of polyhydric alcohols of two-four valence and normal or branched fatty acids of different carbon number. The wear characteristics of polyol ester base oils are different from those of mineral oil, strongly affected by the branch shapes of fatty acids in their molecles. In particular, the polyol ester base oils having normal fatty acids such as n-octanoic acid, n-nonanoic acid etc. show much better wear performance than POEs having branched fatty acids such as 2-ethylhexanoic acid, 3,5,5-trimethyl hexanoic acid, etc. As the carbon chain length of normal fatty acids, in case of POEs of normal fatty acids, is increased, their wear rate is decreased and, in case of POEs of branched fatty acids, as the degree of branch of branched fatty acids is decreased, their wear rate is decreased. All the wear results of polyol ester base oils could be reasonably explained by comparing cohesive ability among fatty acid molecules in adsorption film by fatty acids obtained as POEs were decomposed.