Oxidative stability of lubricants measured by PDSC CEC L-85-T-99 test procedure

Summary The CEC L-85-T-99 pressure differential calorimetry (PDSC) test was developed in Europe for ACEA E5 specification for heavy duty diesel oils. This test differentiate between base oils, additives, indicates synergies between antioxidants and correlates with other oxidation tests. Occasionally, the PDSC test can have difficulties to provide a true value for the OIT, which can vary between samplings. This work gives evidence of such case and concludes that variability in results is caused by variability in the oil rather than in the test itself. It appeared possible that certain oils might not be fully homogenous and this could produce a problem for representative PDSC sampling.