Acid Neutralization and Engine Hardware Corrosion Protection through Heavy-Duty Diesel Lubricant Additive Chemistry

One of the primary functions of modern heavy duty diesel (HDD) lubricants is to protect the engine against corrosion, which is typically accomplished by additives providing alkaline material, commonly represented as total base number (TBN). The majority of the TBN in HDD lubricants comes from ash-containing over-based detergents, with various metallic base and soap chemistries. In this publication, we discuss several overbased detergents and their efficacy in acid neutralization, as well as the resulting impact on corrosion protection. The performance differences are compared in a number of stationary API CJ-4 and CK-4 HDD engine screener tests. Furthermore, these results are confirmed with field trial data, including a comparison of CJ-4 oils with the upcoming API FA-4/CK-4 oils. The selection of overbased detergent type provides varying levels of acid neutralization and corrosion protection. Within a constrained sulfated-ash environment, TBN can be maximized via the use of magnesium-based detergents. In fact, the use of magnesium and salicylate chemistries provide the optimum performance, thus enabling improved extended protection over the lubricant’s life in the field for FA-4/CK-4 oils.