Answer: (1) Mineral oil air compressor oil. It is a hydrocarbon. Mineral oil is a lubricant extracted from petroleum. It is suitable for light-load air compressors. It has good high-temperature oxidation stability and low carbon deposition tendency. Some products also have certain anti-wear properties and are suitable for medium-load air compressors. The oil change period of mineral oil lubricants is 1000~3000h and the price is relatively cheap. Although the price of mineral oil is low, its service life and lubricating performance are inferior to those of semi-synthetic oil and synthetic oil. At the same time, it also has greater pollution to the environment.
(2) Synthetic oil air compressor oil. Fully synthetic oil is ethylene and propylene dispersed from gas or natural gas in crude oil, and then refined into a lubricant composed of large molecules through complex chemical reactions such as polymerization and catalysis. The service life reaches 8000~1200h. Heavy-duty air compressor oil made from organic esters (diesters, triesters, polyesters), synthetic hydrocarbons (poly-α-olefins), polyethylene glycol esters, silicones, phosphate esters and other synthetic base oils, and then adding various additives. Ester oil type, due to its long service life and certain cleaning performance, although the price is high, many manufacturers still choose it. Silicone oil type is currently only used by a small number of air compressor manufacturers. Its price is quite high and its service life is also longer.
(3) In terms of lubricant selection, semi-synthetic oil type air compressor lubricant has the fastest growth rate, and the lubricating performance of semi-synthetic air compressor oil is better than that of mineral oil type lubricant. Adding oil additives, extreme pressure additives and friction modifiers to mineral oil type lubricants to form hydrocarbon synthetic oil type lubricants significantly improves the lubricating performance of the lubricant.
Compared with mineral oil type air compressor lubricant, synthetic oil has the advantages of good high temperature stability, not easy to generate carbon deposits at high temperature, extremely small risk of fire and explosion in the air compressor exhaust system, wide operating temperature, low pour point, low volatility, and long service life. However, due to its high price, it is only used in air compressors under various harsh conditions that mineral oil type air compressor oil cannot withstand.
