LUBRICATING OIL AGAINST CORROSION BASIC INFORMATION

Lubricants are not generally regarded as being corrosive, and in order to appreciate how corrosion can occur in lubricant systems it is necessary to understand something of the nature of lubricants. Once, lubricants were almost exclusively animal or vegetable oils or fats, but modern requirements in the way of volume and special properties have made petroleum the main source of supply. In volume, lubricants now represent about 2% of all petroleum products; in value, considerably more.

There are many hundreds of different varieties of lubricants, many of them tailored to meet particular requirements. Lubricating greases are solid or semi-solid lubricants made by thickening lubricating oils with soaps, clays, silica gel or other thickening agents. Synthetic lubricants, which will operate over a very wide range of temperature, have been developed mainly for aviation gas-turbine engines.

These are generally carboxylic esters and are very expensive products. The main function of most lubricants is to reduce friction and wear between moving surfaces and to abstract heat. They also have to remove debris from the contact area, e.g. combustion products in an engine cylinder, swarf in metal-cutting operations.


Mineral lubricants may be distillates or residues derived from the vacuum distillation of a primary distillate with a boiling point range above that of gas oi1’*2*T3.h ey are mixtures of hydrocarbons containing more than about 20 carbon atoms per molecule, and range from thin, easily flowing ‘spindle’ oils to thick ‘cylinder’oils.

For hydrocarbons having the same number of carbon atoms per molecule, the higher the proportion of carbon to hydrogen, the more viscous the oil and the lower the viscosity index.


Distillate lubricating oils can be conveniently divided into three groups -low viscosity index oils (LVI oils), medium viscosity index oils (MVI oils) and high viscosity index oils (HVI oils). LVI oils are made from naphthenic distillates, with low wax contents so that costly dewaxing is not required.

MVI oils are produced from both naphthenic and paraffinic distillates; the paraffinic distillates have to be dewaxed. HVI oils are prepared by the solvent extraction and dewaxing of paraffnic distillates. Solvent extraction is a physical process which removes the undesirable constituents, thereby improving viscosity index and the oxidation and colour stability.

White oils are obtained by the more drastic refining of low viscosity lubricating oil distillates to remove unsaturated compounds and constituents that impart colour, odour and taste. They are usually solvent extracted and then repeatedly treated with strong sulphuric acid or oleum and alkali, and finally ‘clay’-treated to remove surface-active compounds.

Acid and clay treating is expensive and is being superseded by hydrofinishing, a catalytic hydrogenation
treatment. The residues from the vacuum distillation can also be refined to provide very viscous lubricants. The residues from paraffinic base oils are generally solvent extracted and dewaxed. The main use of these products (bright stocks) is as blending components for heavy lubricants.

Thus residues from naphthenic base oils, which are also used as blending components for heavy lubricants, are normally not extracted. The performance characteristics of a lubricating oil depend on its origin and on the refining processes employed, and in order to ensure consistent properties these are varied as little as possible. Some aero-engine builders insist on a complete re-evaluation of a lubricant, costing many thousands of pounds, whenever there is a change of source (crude) or refining process.

PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS OF ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS BASIC INFORMATION AND TUTORIALS

This article is important for both the service provider and the client.

Management of the building process is best performed by the individuals educated and trained in the profession, that is, architects and engineers. While the laws of various states and foreign countries differ, they are consistent relative to the registration requirements for practicing architecture.

No individual may legally indicate to the public that he or she is entitled to practice as an architect without a professional certificate of registration as an architect registered in the locale in which the project is to be constructed.

This individual is the registered architect. In addition to the requirements for individual practice of architecture, most states and countries require a certificate of registration for a single practitioner and a certificate of authorization for an entity such as a corporation or partnership to conduct business in that locale.

An architect is a person who is qualified by education, training, experience, and examination and who is registered under the laws of the locale to practice architecture there. The practice of architecture within the meaning and intent of the law includes:

Offering or furnishing of professional services such as environmental analysis, feasibility studies, programming, planning, and aesthetic and structural design Preparation of construction documents, consisting of drawings and specifications, and other documents required in the construction process

Administration of construction contracts and project representation in connection with the construction of building projects or addition to, alteration of, or restoration of buildings or parts of building

All documents intended for use in construction are required to be prepared and administered in accordance with the standards of reasonable skill and diligence of the profession. Care must be taken to reflect the requirements of country and state statutes and county and municipal building ordinances.

Inasmuch as architects are licensed for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, documents prepared by architects must be of such quality and scope and be so administered as to conform to professional standards.

Nothing contained in the law is intended to prevent drafters, students, project representatives, and other employees of those lawfully practicing as registered architects from acting under the instruction, control, or supervision of their employers, or to prevent employment of project representatives from acting under the immediate personal supervision of the registered architect who prepared the construction documents.