Hydraulic fluids evolve to meet equipment design trends

Standards fragmentation and new performance requirements for modern equipment pose challenges and opportunities for fluid developers.

Driven by a number of factors, hydraulic equipment such as excavators, lifts, presses, bulldozers, cranes, injection molding equipment and more are rapidly evolving to meet new needs. Lower emissions targets around the world necessitate that hydraulic equipment operates more efficiently, while end-users are demanding hydraulic machines that deliver higher levels of performance over extended periods of time.

As hydraulic-equipment manufacturers work to deliver on these needs, new design strategies have implications across the entire machine. Importantly, hydraulic fluids and lubricants must provide new kinds of performance to best protect and enable equipment to meet its full potential. Five critical trends are especially impacting hydraulic-equipment development: