ESTER COMPOUND LUBRICANTS

Abstract: Use as lubricants, especially for tractive drives, of ester compounds of the general formula I wherein Cb denotes a carboxylic grouping which may be monocarboxylic (MCb) of formula -O-CO- or -CO-O-, dicarboxylic (DiCb) of formula -O-CO-R₄-CO-O- or -CO-O-R₄-O-CO-, or tetracarboxylic (TCb) of formula -O-CO-R₅-CO-O-R₆-O-CO-R₅-CO-O-; R₄ represents an optionally substituted alkylene or alkenylene group, a C 5-10 cycloalkylene group, a di-(C 5-10 cycloalkylene) group, or a C 5-10 cycloalkenylene group; R₅ represents an alkylene group and R₆ represents a cycloalkylene group; each group R₃ individually represents a C 1-6 alkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 3-20 mono- or polycycloalkyl group or a hydrogen atom; m and n are each 0 or 1; R₁ represents an optionally substituted C 4-10 tertiary alkyl group or an optionally substituted C 3-8 cycloalkyl or C 6-14 bicyclo or tricycloalkyl group; and R₂ represents the same as R₁ or alternatively represents an optionally substituted alkyl, alkenyl, mono- or polycycloalkyl, mono or polycycloalkenyl group; provided that when m and n are each 0 and Cb is MCb or DCb wherein R₄ is cyclohexylene, then R₁ and R₂ are not both cyclohexyl.

Description: The present process relates to the use of certain ester compounds as lubricants, in particular their use in tractive drives. These lubricants can be used in a variety of engineering applications, being of particular value in tractive drives. Traction is broadly defined as the adhesive friction of a body on a surface on which it moves. A tractive drive is a device in which torque is transmitted from an input element to an output element through nominal point or line contact typically with a rolling action by virtue of the traction between the contacting elements. While tractive elements are commonly spoken of as being in contact, it is generally accepted that a fluid film is present therebetween. Almost all tractive drives require fluids to remove heat, to prevent wear at the contact surfaces and to lubricate bearings and other moving parts associated with the drive. Thus, instead of metal to metal rolling contact there is a film of fluid introduced into the contact zone and interposed between the metal elements. The nature of this fluid determines to a large extent the limits in performance and the capacity of the drive. Most tractive drives are designed to operate with a tractive fluid which preferably has a coefficient of traction above about 0.06, a viscosity in the range of about 4-20,000 mPas over a temperature range of 40°C to -20°C and good thermal and oxidative stability. The fluid should also be noncorrosive to common materials of construction and have good load-bearing and low wear-rate properties. Mineral base oils are rather unsatisfactory lubricants for tractive drives since in general their traction (friction) coefficient is low, which means that for any given load applied to the gears the maximal tangential force that may be transmitted by the friction wheels is low. In US-A-2 417 281 there are described the desired properties of lubricating compositions adapted to the lubrication of fine instruments and delicate mechanisms such as those employed in watches, clocks, meters, weather recording instruments, galvanometers, aircraft instruments, scientific instruments, shell fuses, ordnance fire control and gun directing equipment. It is stated that the esters of aliphatic dibasic acids, particularly those esters in which the esterifying radical is a branched chain alkyl radical, have a majority of the properties required in an instrument oil. The specific esters are those of the general formula where R is a bivalent aliphatic hydrocarbon radical, such as methylene, polymethylene, ethylidine, propylidine, methyl dimethylene butenylidine and the like; R₁ and R₂ are hydrocarbon radicals such as branched chain alkyl, alkaryl, and cyclo alkyl radicals of which secondary butyl, benzal, cyclohexanol and secondary octyl phenyl are representative. These esters may contain additional substituents or functional groups such as Cl, Br, NH₂, NHR, NR₁R₂, CHO, CO, SH, SR, RSSR, ROR, RO metal. It has now been found that certain ester compounds constitute excellent traction fluids. Accordingly, the present invention provides the use as traction fluids of ester compounds of the general formula I wherein R₁ and R₂ are the same and each represents a cyclohexyl group optionally bearing one or more methyl substituents, and R is a methylene, ethylene, vinylene or trimethylene group, which group may contain one or more methyl substituents. Preferred individual compounds are biscyclohexyl malonate, succinate or glutarate, in which the cyclohexyl moieties or the malonate, succinate or glutarate groups may contain one or more methyl substituents, since these compounds have very high traction coefficients. It has been found that the viscosity characteristics of the above ester compounds are very suitable for use in e.g. friction wheel gears (tractive drives) in which application they may be admixed with conventional grease thickeners. Such thickeners can be of any number of materials commonly used to thicken mineral oils to lubricating viscosity, including both organic and inorganic compositions such as metallic soaps, synthetic polymers, organosiloxanes, clays, bentonite, and colloidal silica. Suitably, the viscosity properties of compounds to be used in tractive drives are such that the compounds are operable between -30 and 150°C and have a viscosity of at most 250mm²/s at 40°C and at least 3mm 2 /s at 100°C. The compounds show excellent lubricating performance in tractive drives, so the invention provides the use of these ester compounds as traction fluids, and also operation of a tractive drive wherein such esters form the tractive fluid. The ester compounds of the present invention can be used per se as traction fluids. They can be mixed with lubricants such as mineral or synthetic oils, and various additives can be added to the ester compounds, such as VI-improvers, pour point depressants, dispersants, detergents, anti-oxidants and the like. The invention will now be illustrated by means of the following Examples, in which some compounds are characterised by their Refractive Index determined at wavelength 546.1 nm, denoted as RI. EXAMPLES The following compounds have been prepared, of general formula METHOD OF PREPARATION Compounds 1-8 were prepared as follows: The acids (7 mol) were refluxed with the appropriate alcohol (14 mol) in a toluene (1L) mixture and in the presence of p-toluene sulphonic acid (18.0g). The molar ratio acid:alcohol was 1:2. The water formed was collected in a Dean and Stark trap and the reaction was continued until no more water was produced (14 hours). The solution was then cooled and washed firstly with a saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and then by a saturated sodium chloride solution. The crude product was distilled under reduced pressure. FRICTION COEFFICIENT MEASUREMENT All friction measurements were performed on a two-disc machine. Hardened steel discs are fixed on the ends of two shafts so as to make tangential contact with each other. Radial forces may be applied to press the discs together with loads of 0-200 kgf. Each disc is driven by an electric motor. The speeds of rotation of the two discs are different, such that there is a slip. Between the electric motor and the shaft carrying the lower test specimen, a measuring device is fitted which indicates the transmitted friction torque. The measuring device is a gear dynamometer with a pendulum which is swung out of its vertical balanced position when power is transmitted, the sine of the angle of inclination being a measure of the torque. The torque measurement is pre-calibrated through the design and dimensions of the instrument. The friction coefficient is defined by the torque measured divided by the product of the radial force times the radius of the lower disc. Both discs used had a diameter of 50.0mm, the upper disc having a width of 3mm, the lower one having a width of 10mm. The top shaft speed was 606rpm, and the mean tangential (or surface) velocity was 1.48 ms -1 The slip employed was 9.1%. All experiments were run at ambient temperature (21°C±2°C). The friction readings are provided at 50kgf, 100 kgf, 150 kgf and 200 kgf loadings, equivalent to Hertzian stresses of 0.69, 0.97, 1.19 and 1.38 GPa respectively. The friction coefficients of the compounds are indicated in the following Table. The kinematic viscosity properties of the compounds are also included in this Table. From these results it is apparent that the compounds 1 to 8 have very high friction coefficients and transmit power excellently.

Claims: Use as a traction fluid of an ester of the general formula I: wherein R₁ and R₂ are the same and each represents a cyclohexyl group optionally bearing one or more methyl substituents, and R is a methylene, ethylene or trimethylene group optionally bearing one or more methyl substituents. Use according to claims 1 wherein the ester is biscyclohexyl malonate, succinate or glutarate, in which the cyclohexyl moieties or the malonate, succinate or glutarate groups optionally bear one or more methyl substituents. Method of operating a tractive drive wherein the tractive fluid is an ester as defined in claim 1 or 2.

Inventors: DARE-EDWARDS, MARTIN PHILIP
Applicants: SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH MAATSCHAPPIJ B.V.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: C10M105
IPC codes: C07C69, C10M105, C10N20, C10N40