Lubrizol® 6776A Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is Lubrizol® 6776?

A. Lubrizol® 6776 is a new hydraulic oil additive package designed to provide excellent antiwear performance, outstanding thermal and oxidation stability, rust and corrosion protection, and rapid water separation, all while keeping systems free of varnish deposits. This product is particularly suited to hydraulic applications where excessive temperatures are seen. Industrial hydraulic systems typically operate around 140º F, with spikes in temperature up to 180º F not uncommon. At higher temperatures, the oil’s lifetime definitely can become compromised. Mobile equipment, plastic injection molding machines, glass transfer systems and heavy presses are all excellent candidates for this technology. It is also suitable for those who would like to extend the life of their oil and the life of their equipment, including valves, filters and pumps.

Q. What kind of field issue does it resolve?

A. The competitive nature of the hydraulics market has created a trend of increasing power output and higher operating temperatures while minimizing the oil reservoir size. This leads to much higher operating temperatures for the oil, which increases oxidation and thermal degradation of additives that protect the fluid. Formulations containing Lubrizol 6776 will help keep systems free of varnish and eliminate the problems that occur as a result of varnish.

Q. Don’t the additives protect the equipment?

A. It is not uncommon for systems to develop varnish over a period of time which can plug filters, stick valves with fine clearances and cause unplanned downtime.

Q. What is varnish?

A. Varnish is the result of thermal and oxidative degradation of oil. Lubrizol has determined that varnish is a combination of polyphosphates with oil oxidation products. Polyphosphates, due to their polar nature, are attracted to metal surfaces.

Q. Why is varnish bad?

A. Once on the metal surface, the sticky nature of the material attracts wear particles to adhere to the surface. This sticky, sometimes abrasive residue can increase the overall friction inside a servo valve, reducing its efficiency and responsiveness. Varnish can also deposit on other surfaces, resulting in a variety of problems including reduced flow, stuck valves, increased friction, poor heat transfer and potential downtime. It also can result in the need to increase maintenance resources to change or clean existing servo valves in hydraulic systems. Downtime impacts the end user’s production rates and bottom line.

Q. How does Lubrizol 6776 work?

A. Lubrizol 6776 is a combination of carefully selected additives that provides all of the traditional benefits expected in a properly formulated hydraulic oil, and also prevents varnish from forming on surfaces. We call it “Clean Technology.”

Q. Will 6776 clean up a dirty system?

A. Lubrizol 6776 when combined with suitable base oil will keep a system clean by preventing the formation of varnish on hydraulic equipment. Although Lubrizol 6776 has been shown to effectively prevent deposits from forming, it does not clean off any deposits already formed.

Q. Will the varnish ever drop out of the oil?

A. Lubrizol’s product has outstanding oxidation protection. The useful life of the oil is expected to occur before any type of varnish drop out would be seen. As varnish particles begin to form, the oil will darken due to the presence of these suspended particulates. The oil should be monitored for typical oxidation during its service life by typical methods (TAN, IR, etc).

Q. I notice the oil darkens as it is being used, what does this mean?

A. As the oil is used, some dark varnish particulate will form. Unlike other oils, this product will disperse this dark particulate matter throughout the fluid, instead of the varnish forming on critical internal components such as servo valves. The fluid darkening indicates the additive system is working properly.

Q. Treat rate and availability?

A. 1.4% by weight, Lubrizol 6776 is now commercially available on a Global basis. A Lubrizol account manager can help you arrange to get a sample for evaluation.

Q. Is the technology patented and are all the components registered?

A. A patent was applied for in April 2006. All the components are registered globally.

Q. Are formulations with Lubrizol 6776 compatible with formulations containing other Lubrizol additives, such as Lubrizol 5703?

A. Lubrizol 6776 has been carefully formulated to be compatible with other hydraulic oils containing standard additive systems such as Lubrizol 5703. We do not expect any compatibility issues.

Q. What base oils will it work with?

A. The product is designed specifically to work with Group I base oils. An optimized version for Group II/III base oils will be available

Q. Does it provide good demulsibility?

A. Although Lubrizol 6776 is designed to keep varnish particles dispersed in the system, the formulation is balanced and will provide excellent water separation properties.

Q. Do you have any pump test data?

A. Yes, the product was tested in standard and extended 35VQ25 vane pump (extended test conditions of 1000 hours,
95º C, 3000 psi). No varnish was noted in comparison to another traditional fluid. In addition, passing results were obtained in Denison test.

Q. Are there any approvals?

A. A formulation containing Lubrizol 6776 is approved against the Denison HF-0 specification. We are in the process of working toward obtaining official approvals with a number of OEMs.

Q. Do you have any field test data?

A. We are in process of developing field test data.