Automotive Lubricants Reference Book
Automotive Lubricants Reference Book
Arthur Caines, Roger Haycock andJohn Hillier2nd ed.760 p.6in.x 9in. trim$149.95 list (UK price via IMechE to be announced)4 colour hardcover
Keywords: Lubricants, Automotive industry
Readers, and particularly those with some motor industry involvement, may already know the Automotive Lubricants Reference Book. Since the first edition was published in 1996 this substantial and fact-filled volume had found a worldwide readership. Its principal author, Arthur Caines, was known to many in the lubricants field, as was his co-author, Roger Haycock, who worked for many years with Exxon in the UK, and later specifically for Paramins (now Infineum).
Enough has happened in the 8 years since the book first appeared to warrant a new edition. In fact, plans were afoot soon after 2000, by which time Arthur Caines had retired from active technical involvement. His co-author Roger Haycock has now produced a complete update – almost a complete rewrite. In this he was joined by John Hillier, whose 30 years at BP's Research Centre ensured continued involvement with the motor industry. Hillier served on many CEC Technical Committees, as well as lecturing and acting as consultant to R&D company Ricardo.
To the average motorist SAE may mean little more than the viscosity rating on a can of oil. Who hasn't bought a can of SAE 20/50, or whatever, without wondering what SAE stands for? In fact, lubricant viscosity is but one of many hundreds of standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and standards is just one activity of this long established body. For a hundred years SAE has been the international voice of the automotive profession. However, it is only in the last 15 years that SAE has become one of the leading technical book publishers in its field.
As with the first edition of the present book, the new edition is co-published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK, thereby widening its availability to European engineering and industrial markets.
Automotive lubrication is a specialised field, and has always been so. It remains the biggest bulk user of lubricant base stocks and particularly of additives. It is also probably the most affected by environmental legislation. It is partly the tightening of regulations, particularly in the EU, that has made the publication of this revised edition so important both to the oil and petrochemical industries, and to the hardware professionals of the automotive industry.
The demand, public and commercial, for improved fuel economy has also been a major influence in the formulation of lubricant types though, as the authors warn, engineers must understand the risks and costs as well as the benefits.
The effect of lubricants on exhaust after treatment systems may seem like a relatively trivial issue, but the reduction or elimination of sulphur and phosphorus as well as ash-containing metallic elements is an enormous challenge and takes the industry into uncharted territory. It is one thing to be confident of performance in new equipment – it is quite another to be confident of satisfactory performance in all types of equipment that may be up to 20 or 30 years old. Engineers, whatever their specialisation, must always be aware of the broader horizon if they are not to be caught unawares.
This in-depth, but eminently readable survey ranges across many facets of the subject. It has proved its worth and gained a wide readership over almost a decade. Unwise would be any professional who feels there is nothing to be gained from an industry that has, probably more than any, shaped today's oil and petrochemical production and much of the thinking that lies behind theoretical and experimental tribilogy.
The new edition of Automotive Lubricants Reference Book can be ordered online via the Institution of Mechanical Engineers at www.pepublishing.com and the Society of Automotive Engineers at store.sae.org.
