A continued move to lower viscosity lubricants is becoming a trend in the development of modern automotive lubricants. Lower viscosity lubricants are known to contribute to improved fuel economy benefits. However, it is well known that lower viscosity base oils of the same chemical family are normally more volatile with lower viscosity index. Low viscosity base oils which have both a high viscosity index and a low NOACK volatility are highly desired but also a great technical challenge. A new series of oil soluble polyalkylene glycols were designed and developed to combat this challenge. These new base oils exhibited performance benefits of high VI, good low temperature viscosity and Noack volatilities compared to benchmarks.
Dr. Yaokun Han is Associate Research Scientist of Performance Lubricants in Dow Chemical China. He is responsible for research and development and also technical service of Performance Lubricants for Asia Pacific. He joined Dow Chemical in 2010. He built up the alkoxylation research capability in Dow China, developed three new industry lubricants and published more than 27 internal and external publications. He graduated from Nankai University with a Ph.D. in polymer in 2010. During his Ph.D. research, he published two patents and more than six international publications in Macromolecules, Macromolecular Chemistry & Physics, Chemistry European Journal, Polymer, Langmuir, etc.
