1. Lubricity of silicone oil
When studying the lubrication properties of silicone oils, in addition to considering whether the silicone oil itself is "pure" silicone oil or modified silicone oil, it is also necessary to consider whether it is used for fluid lubrication or boundary lubrication. Any kind of silicone oil can be used as bearing oil under the condition of fluid lubrication, but most of the lubrication state is boundary lubrication, and the ability of the boundary lubricating oil depends on the oiliness of the lubricating oil, the size of the load and the temperature of the environment.

Dimethylsilicone oil is a good lubricant for non-metallic materials, especially for phenolic, polyamide, polycarbonate plastics and rubber has good lubrication properties, and the swelling capacity of these materials is very small, which is its outstanding advantage. When methyl silicone oil is used as metal lubricating oil, it is suitable for steel to aluminum, steel to zinc, steel to bronze or babbitt alloy at low load, and methyl phenyl silicone oil is suitable for steel to chromium, zinc or pick lubrication. Silicone oils have good water resistance and electrical insulation, so they are used in electronic devices.


2. The performance of silicone oil as a lubricant additive
2.1 Miscibility
Miscibility affects the mixing of silicone oil with other lubricating oil additives, and compatibility often affects the use of silicone oil as a lubricating oil additive. There are Si-O-Si bonds and Si-R bonds in silicone oil molecules, the former is hydrophilic due to the presence of oxygen atoms, and the latter is hydrophobic or lipophilic due to the presence of hydrocarbon groups. The larger the number of carbon atoms in the R group, the stronger the lipophilicity.


The dissolved air in methyl silicone oil is 16-19% by volume, nitrogen is 15-17% by volume, and carbon dioxide is 100% by volume, but these dissolved gases are very small in terms of weight. The solubility of other silicone oils to the above gases is also greater than that of mineral oils.


2.2 Lubricity
Research into adding silicone oil to petroleum lubricants to improve their lubrication properties began in the early 1960s. It was found that when silicone oil itself was used as a lubricant, it had many valuable properties, but its main disadvantage was that it was not suitable for steel-to-steel friction. It was later found that silicone oil, if mixed with mineral oil, will give a high lubrication effect. Subsequently, the mixing ratio and mechanism of action were further studied, and such work has continued to this day.


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