Thermal Decomposition Kinetics of Polyol Ester Lubricants

Published

November 18, 2016

Author(s)

Kimberly N. Urness, Raina V. Gough, Jason A. Widegren, Thomas J. Bruno

Abstract

Synthetic lubricants are widely used for applications that require high-thermal and oxidative stability. In order to facilitate new designs and applications for these fluids we are measuring a suite of thermophysical and transport properties for lubricant base fluids and mixtures. As part of the property measurements, here we report the global thermal decomposition kinetics of four polyol ester lubricant base oils, in addition to a fully qualified (MIL-PRF-23699F) commercial formulation. The fluids were heated in stainless steel ampule reactors and the extent of decomposition was measured by gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection, from which psuedo-first-order rate constants were derived. The rate constants for decomposition ranged from 1e-08 1/s at 500 K to 2e-04 1/s at 675 K. Arrhenius parameters across this temperature regime are also reported. Other techniques for chemical characterization applied in this work include GC with mass specrometry, NMR spectroscopy and Karl Fischer titration.

Citation

Energy and Fuels

Volume

30

Issue

12

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01863

Local Download

Keywords

aviation lubricants, polyol esters, global decomposition kinetics

Citation

Urness, K. , Gough, R. , Widegren, J. and Bruno, T. (2016), Thermal Decomposition Kinetics of Polyol Ester Lubricants, Energy and Fuels, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01863, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921145 (Accessed October 10, 2025)