Trying to foam oil

[OM617YOTA]

Alrighty, goofing off in the shop with a milk frother and some lab beakers.

Left to right, Mobil 5w30 full synthetic, Mobil 0w40 Euro, Supertech 15w40 conventional, Delo 5w40 XSP, and everyone's favorite foam monster............Rotella 5w40.

Added 200ml per beaker and let the foaming begin. Applied milk frother for one minute per beaker. No clue why I started right to left instead of left to right, but it seemed to make sense at the time. Did my best to hold the frother at the level of submergence and angle that produced the most bubbles, but this was never a scientific endeavor and I wasn't about to build some test rig to iron out that variable.

Photos are taken at ~1 min intervals as I try to froth each subsequent oil, and mostly to show the aeration levels in previous beakers.

Rotella:

Delo:

Supertech - This one is an outlier, the frother wasn't able to maintain RPM with the thicker 15w vs. the previous 5w oils. Did the best I could, but if I do this again I'll chuck the frother doodad in my cordless drill and will have plenty of horsepower on hand to maintain RPM even in thick oil.

Mobil 0w40 Euro:

And Mobil 5w30 synthetic.

You can see most of the beakers are pretty evenly aerated, and it's important to keep in mind that the time since frothing goes up by a minute with every step to the right. By the last photo, the Rotella had been sitting for four minutes. The Supertech is noticeably less aerated, again due to the wimpy frother not liking 15w oil.

Next installment to follow.

 

[ammolab]

Someone is bound to say: “But oil is at 200 degrees in an operating engine”.

Oh…I just did

 

[bruce381]

cool then look at entrainment vs surface foam LOL

 

[bruce381]

or defoaming as oil clears from bottom to top

 

[OM617YOTA]

Next, photos at one minute intervals. I wish this forum allowed inserting thumbnails instead of full photos.

Can see a small decline of aeration towards the right, which makes sense as those beakers have had more time to de-aerate. Outlier still being an outlier.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Alrighty, skip ahead four more minutes, and here's the final result.

So, what conclusions can we draw from this?

Not a danged thing. This was not a scientific test in any way, this was a guy goofing off in his shop. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Someone is bound to say: “But oil is at 200 degrees in an operating engine”.

Oh…I just did

Yeah I don't care. Engines don't have milk frothers either, or 10,000 other variables I don't care about.

 

[rstsco]

I now have a hankering for a Guinness.

 

[bruce381]

LOL now put in a few drops water AHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[dadto2]

These little projects are why my wife won't let me retire...

 

[Pablo]

These little projects are why my wife won't let me retire...

My wife would have caught me using her matchachailattemochamiachiatto frother wand. Busted! Ewe!!!!!

 

[RDY4WAR]

The hotter the oil, the susceptible it is to foam. Thus, D892 is conducted at 93.5°C. I like such as this though.

 

[BHopkins]

My wife would have caught me using her matchachailattemochamiachiatto frother wand. Busted! Ewe!!!!!

Clearly, you have had previous experience with doing something like this, as you are able to know the risk, and most likely, the consequences too. Not that I personally have experience with this too.

 

[Pablo]

Clearly, you have had previous experience with doing something like this, as you are able to know the risk, and most likely, the consequences too. Not that I personally have experience with this too.

Yeah I hooked the beater up to 240V

 

[SShooterZ]

Love the initiative. Almost Project Farm-ish. Thanks for taking the time to post your testing and results.

 

[wwillson]

Almost Project Farm-ish.

Not even close, look at @OM617YOTA said below.

So, what conclusions can we draw from this?

Not a danged thing. This was not a scientific test in any way, this was a guy goofing off in his shop. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

I appreciate an understanding of how real science is done and not done!

 

[JimPghPA]

The hotter the oil, the susceptible it is to foam. Thus, D892 is conducted at 93.5°C. I like such as this though.

The ( what ) susceptible? More, or less?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I never tested oil for foaming properties at different temperatures. That said, at higher temperatures, the oil thins considerably, and that should allow air bubbles within the oil to migrate upward and also break the top surface film much easier. Therefore, hot oil should allow air bubbles to escape the top surface quicker. And and not retaining bubbles as long as colder oil.

 

[Bwalker]

There are things I worry about, but foaming engine oil isnt one of them. I've used plenty of Rotella in my work and private life. Never an issue. IMO all the major branded diesel oils are decent. I always preferred Mobil, but thats mostly loyalty to the brand as I have always had good luck with their products.

 

[SShooterZ]

Not even close, look at @OM617YOTA said below.



I appreciate an understanding of how real science is done and not done!

I'm happy you were able to settle that. I didn't ask you to appreciate it.

 

[wwillson]

I didn't ask you to appreciate it.

I was giving you a complement.