Esters of oxypropylated trimethylolpropanes as synthetic lubricants

Purpose - The paper aims to study the effects of introducing oxypropyl segments into the trimethylolpropane (TMP) esters along with lowering the linear chain length from C5-C9 to C5-C6 on the properties of base lubricants.Design methodology approach - Various amounts of oxypropylene segments were introduced into the TMP skeleton and obtained polyols subsequently esterified by pure C5-, C6-, and mixture of C5-C6- aliphatic monocarboxylic acids of normal structure (SFAc mixture).Findings - Introducing oxypropylene segments into TMP skeleton, along with lowering the carboxylic acid chain length from C5-C9 to C5-C6, ester base lubricants obtained improved mechanical and wear preventive characteristics.Research limitations implications - Because of complexity of obtained mixture, it was impossible to study the structure and composition of the obtained products by modern techniques such as high field NMR spectroscopy.Practical implications - The obtained materials have high boiling points under reduced pressure (2 mmHg). Producing higher vacuums will make the distillation process easier.Originality value - This paper fulfils detail information on the experimentally preparation of oxypropylated TMPs as synthetic base lubricants. The synthesized compounds showed improved properties such as high viscosity at 100°C, low pour point, high flash point, and totally excellent viscosity-temperature properties than simple TMP esters and some literature reported ester base lubricants.