Comparative study of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricating oils and their lubricating capacities

With the growth of the fleet of vehicles in recent years, it becomes essential to know the quality of the most used automotive lubricating oils on the market. The aim of this research was to analyze the performance of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants of Shell brand, synthetic lubricating oil used was 5W-40 and semi-synthetic was 10W-40, both had the same SAE viscosity of 40, On the packaging. Through experimental observations and laboratory tests used on the engine of a Gol City type 1.6 2014 Flex-type car that traveled 5,000 km with each lubricating oil. The research in question is relevant since many consumers of automotive vehicles do not have the specific knowledge about the quality of the lubricants taking into account only the price of the lubricating oil used. The research provided the knowledge of the physical properties through the kinematic viscosity test and viscosity index that were performed in a "Saybolt" viscometer, the results obtained in this step were converted to "centistokes" according to the approximate system conversion multiplication factors Of viscosity. The observation tests, water contamination in which a heating plate was used, were also carried out to verify which of the lubricating oils present the highest contamination by water.