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In line with Global targets of reducing CO2 Emissions, transportation industry is witnessing a significant shift in focus — from emissions to fuel economy — by regulators, researchers, OEMs, fuels and lubricant manufactures. Improvements in fuel economy can have a significant bottom-line impact for fleets and owner operators alike. There are many paths to take when looking at a program to reduce fuel consumption. These include new engine and transmission designs, new metallurgies, surface finish, coatings, new injection technologies, turbochargers and of course through engine and transmission lubricants. Passenger car engine lubricants are being upgraded time to time and customized for fuel economy and emission compliance benefits as the vehicle technology evolved to meet the emerging regulations. New vehicle technology has shifted surface tribology more towards boundary regime as new designs are compact, offer high operating temperatures and pressures.

One of the most critical parts of the heat treatment process is the quenching operation, which is defined as rapid cooling of a work-piece by immersing it into a quenching media such as water, oil, or polymer. Quenching is carried out for altering and achieving the desired mechanical properties of industrial materials. Hardness, microstructure changes, and surface finish obtained are a few of the most sought objectives of quenching and these are greatly influenced by cooling time, cooling rate, quench media, etc. The cooling rate of quenchant must be sufficiently fast for phase transformation of the material, thus changing the microstructure. But, very fast quenching may result in distortions or crack formation on the material. Therefore it is very critical to have comprehension and control over the quenching process. Normally a probe made up of Inconel 600 is used in a potable quenchometer to comparatively evaluate the cooling rate with different quenchants.

It has been reported that 90% of greases are used for the lubrication of rolling element bearings. Greases are important systemic components which greatly influence the life of the bearings besides the dynamic test conditions encountered throughout its operation such as load, speed, temperature and bearing design. The greases may be used in bearings running in open condition or using shields to prevent it being leaked or thrown off during operation. The dynamic life of grease is determined by tests run on multiple sets at elevated temperatures till failure is encountered. These tests measure the grease life as well as the bearing life. Simulated tests in conditions close to real life applications are possible using this method. The FE9 test rig is one of the commonly used test rigs for finding the dynamic grease life.

Automobile OEMs are looking for improving fuel economy[1,2] of their vehicles by reducing weight, rolling resistance and improving engine and transmission efficiency apart from the aerodynamic design. Fuel economy may be improved by using appropriate low viscosity [3] and use of friction reducers (FRs)[4,5] in the engine oils. The concept of high viscosity index [6] is being used for achieving right viscosity at required operating temperatures. In this paper performance properties of High Viscosity Index engine oils have been compared with conventional VI engine oils. Efforts have been made to check the key differentiation in oil properties w.r.t. low temperature fluidity, high temperature high shear viscosity/deposits, friction behavior, oxidation performance in bench tribological /engine/chassis dyno tests which finally lead to oil performance assessment. Three candidates of SAE 0W-30 grade oil with ACEA C2/API SN credentials have been chosen using various viscosity modifiers.