Titanium potential replacement for ZDDP

For years, anti-wear additives for high-performance oils have been phosphorous compounds that work by forming a polyphosphate film on engine parts that reduces wear. Unfortunately, phosphorus is a chemical poison for automobile catalytic converters, reducing their effectiveness and life span, so industry chemists have been searching for ways to replace or reduce the use of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate or ZDDP. It’s not a simple problem because the additive has several useful functions in addition to wear resistance. Titanium is one candidate replacement. Mechanical tests of an organic titanium compound at Afton Chemicals R&D center in Richmond, Va., U.S.A., demonstrated that it provided superior wear resistance when added to a fully formulated engine oil, suggesting that oil chemists could use less ZDDP. The results suggest that titanium could play an important role in future low-phosphorus lubricating oils. (July 24, 2008)