Influence of Gear Oil Formulation on Oil Temperature

Friction losses in complex tribo-technical system are revealed primarily through their effect on the operating temperature level. In order to assess the influence of the oil formulation on the temperature level comprehensive tests were run in a model test apparatus consisting of a special adapter for the 4-ball test rig.

More than ten with different formulations (different base oils, additive packages and viscosity modifiers) were tested. The resulting temperature levels varied by nearly 25 %. The objective of this model testing is to assess the influence of the oil formulation on the operating temperature of vehicle manual transmission. The correlation to the real tribotechnical system was confirmed by a VW Polo transmission test.