Experimental Study on Viscosity-Shear Characteristics of Lubricating Oils

The viscosity of automotive lubricants containing polymers decreases temporarily in the oil films of sliding parts with the increase in shear rate. This decrease sometimes causes surface damages such as bearing seizure and gear pitting. This paper describes the effect of polymers and base oils on viscosity under high shear rate conditions. The viscometer was newly developed to evaluate the viscosity at high shear rates. Shear rate can vary between 10⁵ sec^-1 and 10⁶ sec^-1. By using the viscometer, the effects of various factors such as polymer type, molecular weight, polar group and concentration on shear viscosity were investigated. The effects of polymer solubility and molecular weight distribution of base oils were also investigated.