Effect of Water Pollution on Rheological Properties of Lubricating Oil

This paper presents an experimental study of the rheological behaviour of water-in-oil mixtures without any additive, up to 10 % of mass water concentration, where the mixture is considered to be a Newtonian fluid. The selected oil is a classical turbine mineral oil. Viscosity was measured for five temperatures, ranging from 10 to 80°C, for droplet size below 30 mm. A light decrease of viscosity was detected for water concentrations below 0.1 %. For concentrations greater than 0.2 %, viscosity increases with water concentration. Moreover, the variation of viscosity with temperature shows good correlation with both Walther model and Mac Coull & Walther model. Finally, a new model of water-in-oil mixtures viscosity as a function of temperature and concentration was defined.