Gear Oil

A gear oil represents an important engineering element in drive train technology and is used in almost all areas of application. The demands made on gear oils have risen significantly. New developments in the field of drive train technology are mostly accompanied by increases in component performance. More performance or higher capacity needs to be transferred in ever shorter periods of time. At the same time, components and gearboxes become increasingly smaller and compact.

A gear oil, as one of the most important and complex engineering elements, must satisfy changing application conditions and performance requirements. Oil volumes get smaller, oil circulation cycles increase and the energy transferred to the lubricant increases. This leads to an increase in the thermal and oxidative load on the lubricant. And in addition, the technical demands on industrial lubricants have changed dramatically over recent years these have become more stringent. New, complex bench tests with exact thresholds have been developed to better reflect the demands and problem areas in drive trains and gears.

Gear oils can be divided into two main groups according to their use:

General lubricating and gear oils for industrial applications (stationary gear oils) conforming to DIN 51 517, ISO 6743/6 and Lubricating and gear oils for automotive applications (mobile gear oils), commercial vehicle gear oils and Automatic Transmission Fluids conforming to API GL 4, GL 5, etc.

The demands made on industrial gear oils are increasing. Although the new DIN 51 517 (dated 2004) only specifies a scuffing test in line with FZG A/8,3/90 and the roller bearing test FE8 in addition to the physical characteristics, many gear manufacturers specifications contain additional demands.