Lubricity

C

chet31

New member
Any detergent formulation chemists here? A lot of car detergents will say they have "great lubricity." What gives a detergent it's lubricity? Is it simply the surfactants themselves or is some kind of agent added that provides lubricity? If it's the surfactants, do the carbon chain lengths of the surfactants give a detergent more or less lubricity?
 
Car soap is almost always nothing more than a surfactant, dye, scent. Even most of the "wash and wax'' soaps.
 
chet31 said:
Any detergent formulation chemists here? A lot of car detergents will say they have "great lubricity." What gives a detergent it's lubricity? Is it simply the surfactants themselves or is some kind of agent added that provides lubricity? If it's the surfactants, do the carbon chain lengths of the surfactants give a detergent more or less lubricity?
Click to expand...

I believe there's gotta be some additive, different soaps have different lubirocity (by personal experience)

bears said:
Car soap is almost always nothing more than a surfactant, dye, scent. Even most of the "wash and wax'' soaps.
Click to expand...
uummmmm WRONG
:crazy:

Unless of course you're talking, Dawn, Palmolive, ajax etc.......
 
Well i used to sell detailing chemicals from a major player in the business and the "car soaps" that were in there line were no more than what i listed above. They sold several different car soaps and they just had different color dye and some were thicker than others. I now make all my own car soaps and a truck wash soap that i use for fleet washing. when you get into truck wash soaps your dealing with a different animal.
 
bears said:
Well i used to sell detailing chemicals from a major player in the business and the "car soaps" that were in there line were no more than what i listed above. They sold several different car soaps and they just had different color dye and some were thicker than others. I now make all my own car soaps and a truck wash soap that i use for fleet washing. when you get into truck wash soaps your dealing with a different animal.
Click to expand...

you dont cook it up in yer bathtub do you?
 
chet31 said:
Any detergent formulation chemists here? A lot of car detergents will say they have "great lubricity." What gives a detergent it's lubricity? Is it simply the surfactants themselves or is some kind of agent added that provides lubricity? If it's the surfactants, do the carbon chain lengths of the surfactants give a detergent more or less lubricity?
Click to expand...

:rofl:rofl:rofl:rofl:rofl:wow::wow::wow::crazy2::crazy2: When you asked the first question about 'DO WE HAVE HERE" You have no idea what can you opened up with that...:rofl:rofl
 
Responses regarding lubricity and Optimum products/information have been moved to a new "Lubricity" thread in the Optimum forum.
 
Thank you for the responses. I used to be a chemist, so I understand the chemistry of surfactants/detergents/soaps, how they clean, suds, etc. However, very little technical info seems to available on "lubricity," especially given how often the term is used. When I go to product websites to look for technical specifications, exact formulations are not provided, which makes sense since they are probably deemed trade secrets. That's why I figured it would probably take a detergent formulation chemist to answer my question - not just a chemist ('cause I am one, or used to be).

It seems to me, it is either the surfactant itself that provides lubricity, or it's an additive. Either seems plausible to me. I could see where the chain length of the surfactant could impact lubricity (since it impacts cleaning power), but could also see where an additive could fit the bill. I was simply wondering if anyone knew.

Personally, I am interested in the lubricating properties of detergents more than the cleaning properties (haven't used many detergents that wouldn't clean a car), since that impacts introduction of swirls.

I thought perhaps other detailers might also be interested in this overall topic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top