BORPower additive?

[Logic]

Originally Posted by aerohead

Any friction in an automobile will derive from hydrodynamic shearing forces within liquids, which is solely a function of viscosity.
There really isn't any surface friction from parts actually in physical contact. They're all separated and 'ski' on top of a wedge of lubricant separating the surfaces.
Some oils are presently at 'zero' viscosity upon cold start. They add only a fraction of a percent to economy or power.
The claims are extremely dubious.
Buyer beware!

Hmmm... true-ish for a well run in engine.
But for a piston to change direction it has to stop.

Then even run in engines that are constant rpm and almost always running (like the genset on the farm I grew up on) become old and smokey and worn out.
Most engines are restarted often.

Bearing surfaces under a microscope are not as flat as we would like.
Well; not till you look at surfaces with the Boric Acid on therm.
(see the research pics: Dr Ari Erdemir of Agronne National labs initially and a vast amount of followup research buy other research institutes)

The very 1st layer of Boric on a metal surface is a ceramic layer with 85% the hardness of diamond that forms an extremely inert protective layer on the metal surface.
Subsequent layers resemble platelets more and more as you move away from the surface. Like microscopic playing cards sliding over each other. (ionicly bonded)

At some point you will encounter an old smokey worn engine that's about to be redone anyway and give this a try aerohead.
I cant wait for that day!

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Should that happen the result is galling and friction welding.

Yup should you ever be fortunate enough to loose oil pressure running on the interstate on a hot day you will end up with lightly welded internals. Might take a while to do that with modern stuff. Certified aircraft engines are tested to run for 30 minutes at 75% power on no oil pressure

Boric acid doesn't form some sort of very hard alloy/ carbide/ material on the bearing or mating surfaces?

[Logic]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Boric acid doesn't form some sort of very hard alloy/ carbide/ material on the bearing or mating surfaces?

Yes it does:
1st layer is a ceramic layer with 85% the hardness of diamond and complete resistance to the acids etc formed in old oil.

Subsequent layers transition from that to ironically bonded micro platelets akin to micro playing cards sliding over each other.
The layer is around 0.5 microns thick in total.

The coefficient of friction numbers are crazy low. Well into the 'Too good to be true' range. Something like 70X more slippery than steel-oil-steel IIRC.

So my initial test of a heaped tablespoon of Boric Acid, stirred into a coffee mug of boiling water went into a properly knackered engine where you couldn't see behind you for smoke and max speed was around 80, at which point it felt frighteningly like the engine was about to vibrate itself too destruction.

I poured it into the pre warmed engine and took off immediately.
I took it very easy as I knew the emulsion was doing nothing for oil thickness.
About 10km later I could feel the engine smooth out and a look in the rearview mirror revealed that I could see behind me once again.

Gobsmaked and in a state of shock and awe I gave it the gas and discovered that the engine had come back to life, was smooth as can be, and happily went up to a bit over the original top speed of the car.
(It was a little 1200, 4 speed Toyota that maxed out at 140KM/h. (rpm limited))

After that it went into my 2L Mazda and Dads 728 BMW etc-etc. all to great effect.
Except:
The Isuzu truck was no fun on an early morning winter trip as the damn engine just wouldn't warm up to the point where the heater would work!

NB!!!
VWs use a very fine sieve on the oil pump pickup.
The Boric ceramic coating gets in under the sludge that's inevitable in any engine fed a mixture of oil brands and the loosened sludge blocks the pickup, requiring one to drop the sump and clean the sieve.

[freebeard]

Subsequent layers transition from that to ironically bonded micro platelets akin to micro playing cards sliding over each other.

Ionic or literally ironic??

That's for including the boxer four. Cleaning the screen is a periodic maintenance anyway.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Ionic or literally ironic??

That's for including the boxer four. Cleaning the screen is a periodic maintenance anyway.

Ionic
Same as Molybdenum Disulphide, but I don't think MoS2 forms a protective ceramic layer on the metal surface and does not have the crazy low coefficient of friction of Boric Acid.
I havent researched it nearly as much as H3BO3.


The above results demonstrate that with a mixture of boric acid and an oil lubricant, the friction coefficients are reduced by 10 to over 1000% below those of the unmixed lubricant itself. The wear rates of pins are reduced by factors of 50 to 100 below those of pins tested in unmixed oil itself.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5431830A/en