The Behavior of α-Olefins Butyl Acrylate Copolymers as Viscosity Index Improvers and Pour Point Depressants for Lube Oil

Abstract

A lubricant additive may be defined as a material that imparts a new and desirable property not originally present in the oil or reinforces a desirable property already possessed in some degree by the oil. These materials are normally more chemically reactive than the base oil. The additives are being used at various concentrations from a few parts per million to over 30%. A great deal of research is being done at present into the synthesis, technology, and applications of different lube oil additives. In the present work, polymeric additives were prepared by reaction of butyl acrylate with different α-olefins (octene, dodecene, tetradecene, and octadecene). The efficiency of the prepared copolymers as viscosity index improvers and pour point depressants for a base lube oil were studied. It was found that the efficiency as viscosity index improvers increases with increasing the concentration of the prepared copolymers and increasing the chain length of alkyl groups of the α-olefins, and the efficiency as pour point depressants increases with decreasing the concentration and decreasing the molecular weights of the prepared copolymers.