Our decade long research leads to the breakthrough on friction reduction of hydrocarbon lubricants by our functional fluoropolymer additives. We tested this new product on road tests that proven a 25% fuel saving. It is unknown for any product on the market which could provide such great fuel saving. We have US patent pending. We conducted a pilot production. The product, lubricant additive Fuelsav®, made by pilot production provides the opportunity for further road tests.

One important concept is super-lubricity additive for lubricants. It shift mixed friction regime into hydrodynamic friction regime. Our lubricant additive Fuelsav® fits into such definition. Not only it shift mixed regime into hydrodynamic regime, but also it reduces lubricant friction further in hydrodynamic regime. Fuelsav® shifts hydrodynamic regime into elasto-hydrodynamic regime which has the lowest friction forces. Engines are desired to be operated in elasto-hydrodynamic regime when engine reach ideal operation condition. There is no known additive that could bring such shift. The fuel saving results coincide with such analysis.

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For save energy lower viscosity, thinner engine oils have been developed. There is a limitation. Thinner oils have advantage of lower viscous dissipation, however, the disadvantage of high friction losses and high engine wear. Thinner oils alone do not provide obvious saving. The maximum reported fuel save is about 1% percent for 5W20 engine oils. The fuel saved is a small amount when comparing the costs on engine wear.

Courtesy of E-Ion Additives

Many research proposed to use fluoropolymers to reduce friction between metal parts, such as PTFE (Teflon), or micronized PTFE. However, the application obstacles of micronized PTFE is insolubility and lack of functionality. Their application is questionable.

For save energy we use a different approach: ionic liquid crystal fluorinated surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav®.

The performance of lubricant additive Fuelsav® is related to the structures of functional fluoropolymers:

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® has ionic metal bonding groups.

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® is ionic liquid crystal material. It form ionic liquid crystal surface films with functional groups activated by tribochemical surface reactions. These surfaces films are gel-like or sponge-like properties.

The ionic liquid crystal surfaces films retains lubricant oil in sponge-like surface layers.

When relative movement is slow or in static condition, ionic liquid crystal phase have high viscosity that protect engine parts during cold start. When relative movement is fast, ionic liquid crystal phase of fluoropolymer change conformation, The chains in polymer are stretched and form lamellar layers that greatly reduce friction in elasto-hydrodynamic regime.  

Different with most fluoropolymers, the fluoropolymer lubricant additive Fuelsav® is soluble in lubricant oils. The solubility in lubricant oil provides the important feature: self-renewability of the fluoropolymer surface films formed by Fuelsav®.

The fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav® has the advantage of retaining lubricant oil into fluoropolymer surface films with oleophilic groups. Extreme important is that fluoropolymer surface films smooth, slick and reduce surface boundary layer thickness with ionic liquid crystal surface film.

As result, lubricant additive Fuelsav® shifts boundary and mixed friction into elasto-hydrodynamic regime that dramatically increase fuel economy (20-30%).

A)      The sponge-like surface films formed by FuelSav® retain lubricant oil on metal surfaces by oleophilic functional groups.

B)      The sponge-like surface films by FuelSav® expand elasto-hydrodynamic regime (film lubrication) and squeeze boundary lubrication regime. Combined with EP/AW additives (nano-, submicron functional PTFE contained in FuelSav®.) It results in greatly reduction on friction and wear under broad ranges of lubrication conditions.
The piston ring/linear sets and valve trains are worked under mixed regime in most engine cycles and contributes majority of engine friction losses. The sponge-like surface films shift mixed regime into film lubrication regime, and greatly reduces the friction and wear.

C)      The gel-like fluoropolymer surface films by FuelSav® smooth and slick surfaces that reduce the boundary layer thickness (super lubricity). That reduces the energy losses during turbulence flow. It further reduces the friction of elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication regime.

D)      Surface films formed by FuelSav® are fluoropolymer that protect metal surfaces from oxidation and corrosion even under high temperatures.

Additional advantage of Fuelsav® are:

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® provides saving by reduce lubricant oil consumption,

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® provides by extends oil drain interval.

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® are polymers which has low volatility that do not poisoning catalysts in converter.

Lubricant additive Fuelsav® provides saving by extend engine lifespan.     

A) Lubricant additive Fuelsav® forms fluoropolymer surface films that reduce friction by replace metal/lubricant/metal lubrication with fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer lubrication.

B) The fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav® retains lubricant oil on surfaces.

The fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav® avoid oil dried or oil deficient surfaces, and therefore, shift mixed lubrication regime into hydrodynamic regime.

C) The EP and AW additives provided in base oil and AW additive in Fuelsav® shifts down the friction forces in boundary lubrication regime. That help to reduce friction and wear during cold start.

D) The fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav® shifts mixed lubrication regime into hydrodynamic gegime due to lubricant oil retained in surface films and the nature of fluoropolymer/oil/fluoropolymer friction instead metal/oil/metal friction. The piston ring/linear sets and valve trains are worked under mixed regime in most engine cycles and contributes majority of engine friction losses. Therefore, the fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive greatly reduces the friction and wear which would be present by metal/oil/metal friction in mixed lubricant regime,  

E) The ionic liquid crystal phase of fluoropolymer surface films formed by lubricant additive Fuelsav® smooth and slick surfaces that reduces the boundary layer thickness. The liquid crystal layered surface films reduces the momentum transfer and energy losses during turbulence flow. As the result, it further reduces the friction of elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication regime.

F) Lubricant additive Fuelsav® forms surface film that protects metal parts from corrosion by fluoropolymer film bonded by metal-phosphate chemical bonds.

G) The formation of fluoropolymer/oil/fluoropolymer lubrication retains lubricant oil in gel-like surface layer with hydrodynamic friction regime with low friction forces and less wear, regardless when lubricant has low viscosity, and therefore, open the opportunity to utilization of lower viscosity and lower friction thinner lubricants, and increase fuel economy.

Synergistic effects of FuelSav® with thinner oils retain low viscous losses, low friction and low wear.  
FuelSave® saves your fuel costs 10%-25% when mixed with thinner oils (5W20 for gasoline engine & 5W30 for diesel engine.) as shown the following diagram:

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Correlation diagram between fuel efficiency and oil viscosity:
Thinner oil have low viscous losses but high friction losses and high wear. FuelSav® reduces friction losses and wear, save fuel when mixed into low viscosity lubricant oils

What is the lubricant additive FuelSav®?

Lubricant additive is compounds that improve the performance of lubricants, such as engine oils, transmission fluids, steering fluids, gear oils, etc. Lubricant additive FuelSav® is discovered by the combination of bio-mimetic research on fish skins for drag reduction and the application of functional fluoropolymers on lubricants. There are three type functional groups. (1).Metal bonding sites bonding on metal surfaces to form fluoropolymer surface film. (2).Oleophilic groups provide solubility in lubricant oil and hold lubricant in surface films. (3). The oleophobic fluorine-carbon group to create phase separation with lubricant.

How friction acts in automobile?

Conventional friction for metal/oil/metal lubrication have three lubrication regimes: boundary, hydrodynamic, and mixed.

When metal parts have lubricant film on surfaces, the friction is hydrodynamic.

When metal parts contact each other without lubricant between metal surfaces, or under extreme pressure where the lubricant is squeeze out: the friction is boundary lubrication regime.

The mixed regime is the conditions between hydrodynamic and boundary lubrication, it means a part of surfaces are touched through asperities without sufficient lubricant film.

A significant energy has been wasted by frictions. The piston ring-cylinder liner system and valve trains are the largest contributor to friction energy wastage in modern internal combustion engines. Top piston rings in a large part of the engine cycles contact on liner surfaces with dried or poor oil supply conditions. Oil control piston rings are pushed against liner surfaces under high tension forces with very low oil film thickness. Piston ring pack and valve trains in a significant part spent in boundary or mixed lubrication regime. Boundary and mixed regime have more than 10 times friction than in hydrodynamic regime.

Lubricant additive FuelSav® replace conventional metal/oil/metal lubrication with fluoropolymer/oil/fluoropolymer lubrication.

How lubricant additive FuelSav® reduces frictions?

Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film that retains lubricant oil and remove the conditions for mixed lubrication regime and greatly reduce friction.

After Lubricant additive FuelSav®  mixed lubrication region is shifted into hydrodynamic regime.

Lubricant additive FuelSav® reduce friction and improve fuel economy. Full scale engine tests on IVA, IIIG, fuel economy & energy conservation, and road drive tests on highway and in city by both gasoline engine cars and diesel engine trucks proven that it save more than 20% fuel

Low viscosity lubricant oils such as 5W20, 5W30 are recommended. 

How lubricant additive FuelSav® provides with such great save?

1) Change the lubrication mechanism. FuelSav® lubricant additive change the metal/lubricant/metal lubricating into fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer lubricating.

The lubrication between moving metal parts change from metal/oil/metal to lubrication between fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer. Fluoropolymer/lubricant has the lowest friction coefficient known. It means original metal/lubricant/metal lubrication changes into fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer lubrication, and save energy.

Research discovered that fish mucus reduces drag up to 65%. Marine organism research discovered: (i) a layer of water immediately adjacent to skin causes most of friction ¨C the boundary layer, (ii) the thickness of boundary layer is proportional to amount of friction. Fish mucus reduces the thickness of boundary layer by ¡°smoothing it¡± or ¡°slickening it¡±.

(1)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms a linear polymer having suitable solubility in lubricant oil.

(2)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms a surface film on metal parts by tribochemical reaction..

(3)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms a surface film constantly renewed and regenerated;

(4)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film with chemical bonding on metal surface.

(5)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film having gel-like or oil sponge-like structures that retains lubricant oil on the metal surface . It remove the possibility of oil dried area on surfaces, the boundary lubrication region, and greatly reduce friction and wear.

(6)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film on metal parts changes lubrication nature to replace metal/oil/metal with fluoropolymer/oil/fluoropolymer, and greatly reduces friction and wear.

(7) Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film having liquid crystal phases with lubricant oil is similar to the liquid crystal phase formed by fish mucus polymer in water.

(8) Lubricant additive FuelSav® forms surface film on metal parts to reduce the boundary layer thickness and momentum transfer through the turbulent boundary layers to reduce friction in hydrodynamic lubrication region.

(9)  Lubricant additive FuelSav® protects metal parts from chemical corrosion and high temperature oxidation.

(10)    Lubricant additive FuelSav® provides ideal lubricant viscosity adjustments: increases lubricant viscosity when at a slow flow or at static conditions, and reduces lubricant viscosity when at a fast flow.

How the structure of functional fluoropolymer of FuelSav® fits in the requirements of lubricant additive?

(1)  Having a chemical structure with oleophilic groups to provide sufficient solubility in lubricant oil phase, and capability to store lubricant oil in oleophilic groups.

(2)  Having a chemical structure with pendent phosphorus-containing groups as metal bonding sites that are highly reactive with metal and metal oxide on metal surfaces, resulting in strong chemical bonds;

(3)  Having chemical structure with suitable solubility in lubricant oil and metal bonding site to form surface film. The surface film is constantly renewed and regenerated wherever wear off of surface film occurs.

(4)  Having chemical structure form surface films to retain lubricant oil on the surface even under poor lubricant supply conditions, therefore, to eliminate boundary lubrication region and reduce friction and wear.

(5)  Having chemical structure with oleophobic fluorocarbon bonds that form phase separation and liquid crystal with lubricant;

(6)  Having a chemical structure with multiple fluorine-carbon bonds units providing chemical, oxidation, and high temperature resistance;

(7)  Having a plurality of oleophobic fluorine-carbon bonds in copolymer form a separate liquid crystal boundary layer to smooth or slick surface films that reduce the thickness of the boundary layer and the rate of momentum transfer through the boundary layer during the turbulent hydrodynamic flow of lubricant, greatly reducing friction and drag under hydrodynamic region.

(8)   Having a chemical structure to form liquid crystal network with a hydrocarbon lubricant results in an increase in lubricant viscosity when the system is in slow movement or static condition, and reduce wear and friction.

(9)   Having a chemical structure to form fluorocopolymer surface film capable of providing corrosion protection for metal surfaces;

(10)  Having a polymer chemical structure, therefore, very low vapor pressure, resulting in environmental friendly, and avoids poisoning the catalyst in the exhaust converter.

What are other benefits of lubricant additive FuelSav®?

1) Reduce lubricant consumption by the benefit of dynamic reduced clearances between piston rings and cylinder liners. Lubricant pumped from crankcase into combustion chamber greatly reduced with dynamic reduced clearance between piston ring and cylinder liners.

2) Keep lubricant oil cleaner by reduced wear of metal parts, and reduced contamination by combustion mixture and carbon shoots leaking from combustion chamber into crankcase.

3) Keep engine running quiet and smooth by sealing leaking from combustion chambers into intake and exhaust ports between valve/valve seat having dynamic reduced clearances by fluoropolymer films. Every time when fire of fuel-air mixture is initiated (by spark plug in gasoline engine or by compress in diesel engine), sudden fired combustion mixture create explosion, the explosion sound is leak out into exhaust system. FuelSav® creates fluoropolymer seals between valve and valve seat, the fire explosion noise sound greatly reduced.

4) Lubricant additive FuelSav® is fluoropolymer. Polymers have very low vapor pressure compare to small molecular sulfide or phosphorus-containing compounds. Chemical bonded phosphoric functional groups by fluoropolymer have very low emission. The vapor pressure of FuelSav® Is far below EPA standard of 400 ppm phosphorus. It protect catalyst in exhaust converter. Reduced lubricant pumped into combustion chambers, therefore, reduced sulfide and phosphorus emissions. Manufacturers have added lubricant additive of organo-sulfates and organo-phosphates into lubricant oil. Those organo-sulfides and organo-phosphorus have mediocre performance but have high vapor pressure due to small molecular weight natures.

5) Protect engine metal parts from corrosion by phosphoric functional fluoropolymer films.

6) Increase lubricant filter life-span by reduce contamination of leaking combustion mixtures and carbon shoots from combustion chamber into crankcase.

7) Reduce energy waste on friction and save energy. Reduce fuel consumption and reduce lubricant combustion and therefore, reduce emission of carbon dioxide. Replace hazardous lubricant additives to protect environmental.

Why Teflon (PTFE), tungsten sulfide, molybdenum sulfides do not work as motor oil lubricant additive?

All solid lubricant additives work with grease lubricants for extreme pressure condition. Gear, bearing, and valve train and others in internal combustion engine are design for lubrication by motor oils. Motor oils require filtrating off all hard solid particles from the lubricant system to protect moving metal parts from wear. The filters are worked by filtrating by the size selection of particles, but not on the hardness of the particles. Therefore the solid particles of Teflon (PTFE), tungsten sulfide, molybdenum sulfides will be filtrated before getting into lubricating system. Nano particles and submicron particles will go through the filter and perform function when they entering the lubricating system. However, piston ring/linear system may be benefit from Tefron (PTFE) and metal sulfide micronized particles because no filter is involved.

Do micronized Teflon form a Teflon film on engine metal parts?

No. Teflon is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a  thermoplastic with a high melt points (450 C or 840 F). You need bake to high temperature (not possible in engine operating conditions) to melt it to form films. Micronized Teflon powders are 5-20 micron size aggregates of PTFE particles. However, The aggregate cannot be de-aggregated, or form a continuous film by simple known methods. Teflon, including micronized or nano-particles PTFE have no functional groups, insoluble, nor dispersed in lubricant oil. Therefore, they cannot bond to any metal surface or form any kind of continuous film after add into crankcase. It will not perform reduce friction function. It do harm your lubricant system by clog and block motor oil filter. Because motor oil filter is an important element to guarantee proper oil pressure to supply lubricant to engine moving parts. Filter is designed to trap any large particles of dirt. A new lubricating oil filter retains all particles over 15 microns in diameter, 95% of all particles over 10 microns, and 90% of all particles over 5 microns.  

What happen when lubricant additive FuelSav® is used?

1)During high load and lack of lubricant between metal surfaces, the metal-fluoropolymer/fluoropolymer-metal layers provide viscous form of lubrication and avoid metal-metal direct touch or wear during cold start.

2)Under extreme high load, gel-like of sponge-like surface metal-fluoropolymer layers avoid pure boundary lubrication regime due to lubricant retained in the surface layers that shift boundary lubrication into hydrodynamic lubrication regime, and greatly extend the lifetime of engine surfaces, especially the friction between piston rings and cylinder liner walls.

3) During hydrodynamic lubrication the metal-fluoropolymer-lubricant layers change turbulent flow to gel/laminar flow, and greatly reduce hydrodynamic frictions with fluoropolymer-lubricant interfaces.

4) The frictions between piston rings and cylinder liner walls are mixed lubrication regime due to unfavorable lubrication conditions. The high temperature resistant metal-fluoropolymer layers with gel-like surfaces layers provide sufficient lubrication even under the condition of starvation of lubricants.

How to save gasoline consumption by lubricant additive FuelSav®?

The engine converts gasoline combustion energy to mechanical energy. A part of the work done by engine is wasted by friction. Reduction of a part of friction will save gasoline. FuelSav® is the lubricant additive which form sponge-like surface layer retaining lubricant that improve lubrication especially for piston rings and cylinder wall to reduce friction and reduce wear of metal surfaces in rubbing contact with each other.

What are the differences before and after the addition of lubricant additive FuelSav® into internal combustion engine crankcase?

The first type of lubrication is called boundary lubrication, It usually occurs either under high load or under insufficient lubricant because unfavorable conditions. The entire load is carried by thin, multi-molecular layer of lubricant oil between the surfaces. For avoid wear during boundary lubrication, the lubricant oil must have high viscosity. The engine oil (lubricant oil) used for four stroke or diesel engines have low viscosity. The speed of the movements are high, metal parts under boundary lubrication suffer accelerate wear, especially during cold start.

After addition of lubricant additive FuelSav®, the lubricant soluble phosphoric functional fluoropolymers are pumped into lubricant system by oil pump and passed through oil filter, and contact with the metal surfaces. The phosphoric functional fluoropolymers in the lubricant are chemically adsorbed on the metal surfaces with chemical bonds, and phosphoric functional groups react with metal or metal oxide to form chemical bonded fluoropolymer layers by phosphoric-metal (iron) bonds. The chemically bonded fluoropolymer layer are oil sponge-like layer. Original metal surfaces no longer exist. They converted to fluoropolymer surfaces after contact with lubricant motor oil saturated with lubricant additive FuelSav®.

First, under high load or insufficient lubricant because unfavorable conditions, The entire load is now carried by solid fluoropolymers layers with retained lubricant in rubbing fluoropolymer/fluoropolymer surfaces. Fluoropolymer/fluoropolymer interface has very low friction even under high load. Therefore, there is no need for lubricant oil must have high viscosity. The boundary lubrication type lubrication no longer exist after addition of lubricant additive FuelSav®. The same mechanism is algae slime grow on seashore rock making steeply surfaces which have sponge-lake layers hold water. Water has very low viscosity that is not a lubricant. The sponge-like surface layers by FuelSav® change the boundary friction regime into hydrodynamic regime and reduce friction and wear.  

The second type of lubrication is called fluid film lubrication or hydrodynamic lubrication. The main feature of hydrodynamic lubrication is that the surfaces are separated by lubricant film that is considerably thicker than the surface film formed by boundary lubricants. Friction is caused by viscous sheering of the lubricant and is reduced to about one tenth of the value which would be achieved by boundary lubrication. Hydrodynamic lubrication do not contributes wear. The main factors on the formation of fluid film lubrication are the load, the relative speed of the surfaces, the lubricant viscosity. The energy losses are caused by viscous dissipation and surface frictions defined by the boundary layer thickness.  

After addition FuelSav® and formation of surface-gel-like layers, the bare metal surfaces do not exist, and replaced by surface-gel-like fluoropolymer layers retaining lubricant oil. First, the friction and wear between fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer are the lowest known. Second, the lubricant can be select with low viscosity. therefore, viscous sheering can be lower. This provides the energy saving.  

The lubricant base oil with lower viscosity or thinner oils are desired under hydrodynamic lubrication condition. It has lower viscous losses. The gel-like surface layer retaining lubricant oil has low friction and wear. The combination of low viscosity base oil and lubricant additive FuelSav®  provide low friction losses and low viscous losses, and the fuel saving. 

Originally, without Lubricant additive FuelSav®, in unfavorable condition, the boundary and hydrodynamic lubrication can exist simultaneously, and this is called mixed lubrication. It is the exact case occurring between piston rings and cylinder liner walls. This is the main cause for any car why the engine become old after 50,000 miles. Because the wear make greater clearance between piston rings and cylinder liner walls, and the cross section of cylinder liner wall changed shape from circular to elliptic.

After addition of lubricant additive FuelSav®, there is no mixing regime shift to the film lubrication between fluoropolymer/lubricant/fluoropolymer.

It explain why you save fuel with great amount on every models of cars or trucks.

What is lubricant oil made of?

There are two sources: mineral and synthetic. The mineral is come from some crude oil contains the suitable branched aliphatic constituents for making a range of lubricant oils. The residue from distillation for gasoline, diesel, and mineral distillate is further distillated under vacuum. The range of vacuum distillated friction is  first de-asphalting by propane extraction. It follows the solvent extraction to remove aromatics which has poor viscosity-temperature characteristics. The urea de-waxing or other de-waxing process to remove wax which would stop the oil flowing under low temperature. The base lubricating oils are made by vacuum distillation, propane de-asphalting, solvent de-aromatic extraction, and urea de-waxing. The base lubricating oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons having an average molecular weight ranging from 150 for light machine lubricating oil to 1000 for a heavy gear lubricating oil.

The synthetic is synthesized by various process depending the hydrocarbon sources. The complex of the topic is beyond this scope.

The base oils are blended to give the right characteristics for particular application. Lubricating oil are rated according their viscosity, and the Society of Automotive Engineering's (SAE) has devised a series of numerical values each of which represents a range of viscosities. Thus an lubrication oil whose SAE value is 30 will have a viscosity in the range 180 to 280 centistokes (cSt) at 77¡ã F (25¡ã C). Modern lubricating oil for diesel engines and four-stroke gasoline engines require different SAE values under different conditions, these are called multi-grade lubricating oils. by mixed with appropriated lubricant additives.

What is lubricant additive?