ILMA Compoundings – November 2018 - 54

IN NETWORK

Cross Connections
Tech Demo is Underway
By Doug Anderson

he development of the new International Lubricants
Specification Advisory Committee (ILSAC) GF-6
engine oil category has been a long and arduous
process, which continues to this day. More than six years
after the "Needs Statement" was proposed, we now stand
at what is being considered the completion of the engine
test development stage and are moving on to the oil development stage.
Until this point, the development of two new engine
tests and five replacement tests has been managed by the
American Petroleum Institute (API) for the Automotive Oil
Advisory Panel (AOAP) group, a consensus body made up
of individual companies representing the equipment makers,
oil marketers, base oil suppliers and additive suppliers as
described in API 1509 Annex C.2.1. At this point, the
emphasis changes from equipment manufacturer driven
to additive and oil company driven. However, while the
different stages of specification development are considered
driven by one group, development really involves the entire
body; each part has input and makes contributions.
American Chemistry Council's Petroleum Additives Panel
(ACC PAP) is the trade organization representing a number
of the major additive companies involved in the AOAP process and is the owner of the ACC Code of Practice (COP).1
The ACC COP helps the oil development process, with the
cornerstones being openness and transparency, having a level
playing field for all stakeholders, and adopting accurate and
reliable engine tests. As such, ACC PAP has been actively

NOVEMBER 2018

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involved from the beginning of the ILSAC GF-6 process
and provides a critical role in this industry specification and
test development process.
A great deal of work has been done to develop ILSAC
GF-6 and the supplemental category API SN PLUS, but
much more is needed to successfully complete this process.
While developing the ILSAC GF-6 specification, ILSAC
presented a critical need related to low-speed pre-ignition
(LSPI) that required an additional effort to develop a supplemental category - API SN PLUS. This supplement had
a material impact on package componentry, necessitating
chemistry rebalance from current ILSAC GF-5 commercial
chemistries, in some cases, related to critical detergent and
anti-wear systems.
While these LSPI fixes will likely carry over to ILSAC
GF-6, additional test requirements also need to be considered. The chain wear test, Sequence X, accepted into the
COP on May 10, 2018, is a new performance requirement
being studied. Sequences IIIH, IVB and VH are said to
be "replacement" tests, but these are showing potentially
different appetites (chemistry drivers) than the tests they
replace and were not required for API SN PLUS. These new
durability requirements need to be balanced with two new
fuel economy tests: the VIE for legacy viscosity grades and
the VIF for the new SAE 0W-16 fuel economy grade. This
lower-viscosity-grade product might impact durability and
alter base stock selections, particularly with the tightening of
the volatility requirements.
The Technology Demonstration Period for the ILSAC
GF-6 specification development process started June 27,
2018. The purpose of the tech demo period is to understand performance levels and produce a recipe for a
lubricant (additive package, viscosity modifier and base
stock) that can meet all the performance requirements
in the proposed ILSAC GF-6 specification. ACC PAP
members agreed that work on ILSAC GF-6 formulations
could commence in all but the Sequence IVB test. ACC
PAP is closely monitoring the Sequence IVB Task Force's
work on reducing test lab differences and on measuring the
new parameter introduced, End of Test Iron. Also being

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ILMA Compoundings – November 2018

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