Hydraulic Additives Overview

Hydraulic fluids are one of the biggest success stories in the additive industry. The fluids are relatively inexpensive and have worked well for decades without much change. But we are now at a transition point in the use of hydraulic fluids because the environment in which these fluids are used has become much harsher.

Hydraulic systems always have been trusted to meet the challenge for tough, unyielding power. But today that challenge needs to be met with more compact systems. That means higher pressures, smaller lines, smaller reservoirs and more critical fluid controls. The hydraulic fluid works much harder and becomes much hotter as it cycles rapidly through the system with less time in the reservoir to shed heat.

Performance Packages

Lubrizol is meeting these challenges with hydraulic fluid performance packages, which have undergone major upgrades in key performance areas:

• Resistant to varnish
• Better oxidation resistance
• Better anti-foam characteristics
• Improved air release properties
• Improved thermal stability
• Extended anti-rust performance
• Increased extreme pressure antiwear performance
• Improved filtration

These enhanced fluids are successfully being used in wide-ranging applications such as:

• Factory fill for equipment builders and pump manufacturers
• General manufacturing
• Automotive plants
• Steel mills
• Paper mills
• Industrial robotics
• Injection molding
• Textile plants
• Off-road vehicles and equipment
• On-road vehicles
• Agriculture equipment
• Marine
• Mining
• Construction
• Forestry
• Food
• Materials handling

The benefits of working with the leader

At Lubrizol we make all the components for our antiwear hydraulic fluids, including pour point depressants and viscosity modifiers. This can reduce the number of suppliers for our customers, reduce the testing time it takes to bring a new product to market and, ultimately, reduce overall supply chain costs.

We can work with customers any way they choose. We primarily sell performance packages, which reduces the number of components customers have to inventory themselves.

As a global company with manufacturing, sales and technical offices throughout the world, we can assure customers dependable supply, on shorter lead times, with consistent product quality. Our knowledge of local cultures and languages and our understanding of global base stocks and chemistries reduce the risks of business missteps for our customers.

We're very strong in our patent position, providing unique performance characteristics that customers can't get anywhere else. We also developed the best MSDS system in the industry.

We have committed the resources to research and new product development, which gives us the ability to provide custom solutions for customers. In fact, we can provide any technical or marketing help that the customer needs in a formulation.

Special product considerations

There are some product trends worth noting in the industry:

• Due to higher pressures and higher temperatures, many systems are operating at higher temperatures. The combination of smaller sump sizes and these more severe operating conditions has placed added pressure on the performance of the oil to protect the equiptment from sludge and varnish. Lubrizol has developed additives systems that help to minimize the formation of varnish in hydraulic systems.
• The use of multigrade fluids is a growing market. Pump manufacturers are changing their attitude toward multigrade hydraulic fluids. They were once worried these products wouldn't provide shear stability. But Lubrizol has a line of shear stable polymers that, when used with Lubrizol's additive packages, provides a very shear, stable line of products that will help maintain viscosity requirements in extreme applications.
• Environmental concerns are driving the industry toward non-zinc, or ashless, products. By taking the zinc out of the fluid you remove the heavy metal content. The problem is that zinc is critical to antiwear and antioxidant performance, so by removing it you usually compromise performance. In fact, zinc antiwear hydraulics work so well and are so cost efficient that it probably will be difficult to replace them for some time.
• Biodegradable fluids are often formulated using ashless products. Initially there were performance trade-offs in the formulation of biodegradable products. Fluids made from vegetable oil suffered from oxidation problems. We now use ester to form biodegradable products and the performance has improved significantly.