Soluble oils vary from basic 'suds' type oils like Castrol Cooledge B1, BP Soltrend GP and many soluble oils from independent suppliers to high technology soluble oils for magnesium machining.

Soluble oils are named due to their oil content, typically above 50% oil.

New technologies have come into the soluble oil product range to offer high performance, excellent bio-stability and improved health and safety.

There are products based on DCHA (dicyclohexylamine) like Hocut 3380 and 795 from Houghton which offer excellent sump life, good compatibility with aerospace alloys, and good foam scum balance. Some manufacturers have concerns over registration of DCHA derivatives but the legal side is not clear.

Other new technology products can be based on phenoxy compounds to give boron / amine-free low hazard label products. These products can perform very well but system cleanliness is important. Where the technology works it works well, but where it doesn't work it is worse than useless.

There are also more traditional boron/amine/biocide products which give the enhanced lubricity of the soluble oil and have good sump-life.

For suds oils I would suggest a local oil blender, these are generally made from soluble oil bases supplied from Polartech, Lubrizol, Clariant etc in group 1 or 2 mineral oil.

For higher technology products it is worth contacting some of the major or more specialist supply and service companies like Castrol, MO8 specialities, Fuchs, DA Stuart, or Houghton who can offer good quality products and customer support and training or just specialist suppliers like John Neale Ltd and QSCD who offer some of the best products on the market.

Send mail to john@lubricantindex.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 04/27/10