[TowerTalk] Oils

[Howard Hoyt]

>>Gary<gary_mayfield at hotmail.com>  asked:
>>I've always wanted to ask.....  What is synthetic oil made from?

True synthetic oil is manufactured from polymeric precursors in processes similar to other polymers and plastics.  Thanks to big corporate $$ lawyers, synthetic as applied to oil no longer means this.  A good paper describing the differences between oils is found at:

http://zddplus.labecon.com/TechBrief10%20-%20Oil%20Base%20Stocks.pdf

The big advantage of synthetic base stocks is their relative lack of parametric delta.  A 30W mineral oil has a much broader spread of actual molecular weights than does a synthetic 30W oil.  Synthetics in general are more stable over their environmental range.


Howie - WA4PSC