Potential of using polyethylene as viscosity enhancer of palm oil to use as a lubricating oil

Abstract

Biodegradable vegetable oil-based lubricating oil is a better auxiliary for mineral-based lubricants as their viscosity index, flash point, lubricity is high. Nonetheless, their limited viscosity range is a major constraint of their usage as lubricating oil. Polymers have proven their capability of increasing the viscosity of vegetable oils without adversely affecting their lubricating properties. Potentially of use of oxidized polyethylene (OPE) as a viscosity booster of palm oil to use as a lubricating oil is studied adding several weight percentages of OPE to the palm oil independently. The addition of 1.75 wt% of OPE to the palm oil resulted in a blend with comparable kinematic viscosity to H68 and the addition of 2.0 wt% of OPE to the palm oil resulted in a blend with comparable kinematic viscosity to SAE30. Palm oil behaves as Newtonian fluid at low temperatures and as the temperature increases, it behaves as shear thickening fluid while the addition of OPE cause to shear thinning behavior.