Synthesis, Characterization and Performance Evaluation of Poly Octadecyl Methacrylate and Poly Octadecyl Methacrylate-CoMethylmethacrylate as an Additive for Lubricating Oil

Abstract

Methacrylate polymers are widely used as additives in lubricating oils, as pour point depressants and viscosity index improvers. In this study, homopolymer of Octadecyl methacrylate and Octadecyl methacrylate_co_methylmethacrylate with molar ratios of 30:70, 50:50 and 70:30 were synthesized and characterized. The free radical polymerization was carried out at 70 °C in toluene solvent and 2, 2′azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. All products were characterized by FTIR, 1 H-NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The obtained results showed the efficacy of the additives as viscosity index improvers, pour point depressants. The pour points of most base oils containing each polymer decreased compared to that of the pure base oil. 70% octadecyl methacrylate units showed a 15C o reduction in their pour points, thus establishing the large efficiency of the products synthesized in this work. The efficiencies of the prepared compounds as viscosity index improvers were investigated. It was found that the efficiency of the prepared compound as viscosity index improvers increases with increasing the concentration of additives.