Castor oil – alcohol brake fluid is no longer used. Mineral oil brake fluid has gradually stopped synthetic brake fluid and is widely used.
Made of ether, alcohol, ester, and other additives mixed with lubrication, anti-oxidation, anti-rust, anti-rubber swelling, and other additives. The operating temperature range is comprehensive, easy to flow at low temperature, flexible braking, high boiling point, slight evaporation loss at high temperature, not easy to produce air resistance, little corrosion to metal and rubber parts, so it has been widely used.
Brake fluid performance requirements for forklifts
(1) Good low-temperature performance: if the brake fluid is poor in liquidity and easy to solidify at low temperature, it will block the pipeline and pump, etc., and the brake pedal will be hard when braking, so that the brake pedal can not be stepped and cannot be the brake.
It is usually required that the brake fluid does not solidify at -40℃ and flows freely.
(2) Appropriate viscosity: if the consistency is too large, the fluidity at low temperature will be poor, and the braking performance will decline;
Too small viscosity can not provide reliable lubrication in a high-temperature environment and easy leakage.
Brake fluid to ensure that the brake cylinder and rubber bowl can slide well, brake fluid is required to have appropriate viscosity.
(3) the boiling point should be high: the forklift in each working cycle frequently forward and backward, brake friction disc in the braking state for a long time, so that the temperature of the braking system rises, such as the use of low boiling point, easy to evaporate brake fluid, the local braking system will be filled with brake fluid steam, air resistance, causing braking failure.
Therefore, brake fluid should have a higher boiling point (dry boiling point is the boiling point of brake fluid without water, the wet boiling point is the boiling point of brake fluid containing a certain amount of water), low evaporation to reduce the generation of air resistance.
(4) Good corrosion resistance: to ensure that the long-term use of brake fluid will not corrode metal pipelines and components, the anti-rust agent is required to be added to the brake fluid.
(5) Good chemical stability: brake fluid is used at high temperature for a long time, which requires no thermal decomposition and coincidence to make the oil sticky, nor is it allowed to generate sludge sediment.
(6) the impact on the rubber is small: there are many rubber seals in the braking system. To reduce the mechanical strength and elasticity of rubber seals such as brake bowls, brake fluid is required to have a negligible impact on the expansion rate of rubber to avoid long-term immersion in brake fluid, strength, volume, and extraordinary quality changes.
2. Precautions when using brake fluid
(1) pour a little brake fluid in the palm. The genuine brake fluid will generally feel some cold, after a moment will feel some heat, and brake fluid is not easy to volatilize;
It is likely fake if the brake fluid feels unusually cold and slowly evaporates.
(2) Before changing the brake fluid, be sure to clean up the oil and dirt at the filling port and vent screw of the brake system to prevent impurities from entering.
The provisions of the maintenance manual should clean the brake system, and the same type of brake fluid is advocated to clean the brake system. It is best not to use alcohol, a cleaning agent, etc.
(3) Brake fluid has specific toxicity and can not be absorbed by mouth.
(4) Brake fluid has a destructive effect on the coating of the body surface, which will produce a “paint biting phenomenon.”
Therefore, when replacing and filling, it is necessary to prevent brake droplets from falling on the coating of the body.
(5) It is strictly forbidden to mix with other brake fluids.
Turbidity or precipitation will occur after mixing, which will significantly reduce the performance of the original brake fluid, and precipitate particles will block the pipeline, resulting in serious consequences of brake failure.
Even if the same kind of brake fluid is soluble better, if the brand is different, it should not be mixed.
A good solubility only means that there will be no layering, turbidity, or precipitation after mixing with other products. Still, it does not mean that the properties of the mixed products will remain unchanged. Each product is mixed with different additives, and there is a relative balance between them. The original properties will be lost once the actual balance is broken by mixing with other substances.
Therefore, when replacing different grades of brake fluid, the pipeline must be cleaned with products to be added.
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