Industrial oils

Industrial oils are classified according to viscosity and performance level. These specifications are determined by international (ISO) and national (MSZ, DIN, AFNOR, etc.) standards. This allows users, engine manufacturers and oil producers to communicate in a "common language" in relation to industrial oils.

Viscosity is the fluidity index number of a liquid, which indicates the internal friction, or resistance, produced by the layers of fluid as they pass over each other. A fluid that produces a high level of internal friction has a high index number, and thus also a high viscosity.

The performance level, one of the most important technical values used for the selection of industrial oils, includes the characteristics that are produced as a result of additives in the oil, and thus determines the overall application limits of a particular industrial oil. The performance levels are determined by a series of oil and engine laboratory tests. A lubricant only meets a given specification if it complies in full with each test criterion. In international practice, the classification by performance level is usually conducted according to ISO specifications.

The application of national standards in this area is limited, although in Europe the ISO-compatible DIN standard is still often used, as are various American (e.g. AGMA) standards, due to the increasing amount of equipment being imported from overseas.

PRODUCT GROUPS

ISO viscosity classification

Formerly, classification by viscosity tended to differ from one oil manufacturer to another, while today in Hungary the grading of distributed industrial oils is mainly performed on the basis of ISO viscosity classification.

ISO 3448 viscosity classification