Cool and composed

To many people, Q8Oils is a name synonymous with petrol stations and automotive lubricants but a lesser known fact is that the company manufacturers a wide range of soluble metalworking fluids and neat cutting oils as well as ancillary products such as anti-foaming solutions, degreasing fluids, bactericides and rust preventatives.  Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants (KPIL), operating under the Q8Oils brand is a major player in the global lubricants market. KPIL is a division of Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), the international marketing and refining arm of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. KPI coordinates the sales of all petroleum-based products through an organisation that comprises two refineries, an R&D facility and over 5,000 retail outlets. KPI has 5,000 employees globally and sales exceeding 75 million litres a day and a net turnover of $10 billion a year. In the UK, Q8Oils focuses solely on lubricants for the automotive and industrial sectors, sold through a combination of direct sales and distributors. Its Leeds-based facility comprises an in-house laboratory, blending plant and offers technical support and applications expertise to its customers. Ably supported by a Research and Technology Centre (KPR&T) in Rotterdam, Holland, the Leeds facility is the Industrial Centre of Excellence for the development of metalworking fluids. In terms of employees, Q8Oils has around 30 office staff, 30 people working in the manufacturing and blending facility and 12 sales and technical support staff out on the road dealing directly with customers. Q8Oils is keen to promote the metalworking fluids part of its product portfolio. Andy Dixon, KPIL UK country manager comments: “A key focus of the corporate strategy is to push the metalworking fluids range in the market. Therefore we're investing significant amounts of money, time and effort towards achieving that goal.” Bio-stable Baroni This ongoing investment includes rationalisation of the product ranges on offer. On the bio-stable soluble metalworking fluids front, the Q8 Baroni X range has been specifically developed to meet the demands of modern component manufacturers and the diverse span of materials machined. Effectively, Q8 Baroni X range complements the established and existing Q8 Beethoven range of soluble metalworking fluids – pushing the boundaries further in terms of productivity and efficiency. Interestingly, Q8Oils uses the names of famous composers or artists to designate specific product ranges. We've already mentioned Q8 Baroni and Q8 Beethoven, but there are a number of other examples that emerge such as Q8 Brahms for neat oil metal forming lubricants. Elsewhere in the Q8Oils product portfolio Q8 Rembrandt, Q8 Bach and Q8 Haydn make notable appearances with the logic behind this naming convention being that Q8Oils can sell its products anywhere in the world, without the risk of misinterpretation due to cultural or language differences. Recently developed over the past 18 months, there are nine variants that make up the Q8 Baroni X range of soluble cutting and grinding fluids: Q8 Baroni XAA; Q8 Baroni XCI; Q8 Baroni XFES; Q8 Baroni XGP; Q8 Baroni XGPD; Q8 Baroni XHS; Q8 Baroni XMG; Q8 Baroni XMP and Q8 Baroni XSP. Although the range is designed to be all-encompassing with each variant having a specific role to play in a variety of water conditions, materials and applications, the common theme is that the products are bio-stable and chlorine-free, protecting the operator from high bacteria levels and hazardous chemicals. Across the Q8 Baroni X range there have been reports of good performance under pressure, excellent cooling properties, stability and surface finish. In a world where productivity, cost-effectiveness and value for money reign supreme, the icing on the cake is enhanced tool life. Attention to detail It's worth exploring some of these variants in more detail. Q8 Baroni XAA for example is a high oil content water soluble cutting fluid designed for turning, milling, boring, deep hole drilling and reaming applications in hard water environments. Its lubricity is improved due to the inclusion of synthetic esters and the high oil content provides maximum long-term protection of machine tools and components produced. It is suitable for use across a wide range of materials but is especially recommended for difficult aluminium alloys including sensitive aerospace grades. It is also compatible with ferrous alloys, titanium, copper containing alloys, composites and oil resistant plastics.

Q8 Baroni XCI is a semi-synthetic, chlorine and sulphur-free water soluble cutting fluids compatible for ferrous materials on modern machining and turning centres. Traditionally materials such as cast iron, black bar and flame cut steel can spoil the appearance of cutting fluid and promote premature degradation, but this product has been developed to address the problem by maintaining fluid and machine cleanliness. Costly drag out is also reduced over conventional cutting fluids

Formulated for the general to difficult machining of ferrous metal, Q8 Baroni XFES is a semi-synthetic, water soluble cutting fluid designed for use in high flow machining centres where high foaming may be a problem, specifically in soft water areas. It has been developed to keep machines clean throughout the coolant life and the bio-stable properties mean that the emulsion does not degrade or produce odours. Q8 Baroni XFES is designed for CNC machines, machining centres, flexible manufacturing and all centralised systems. 

Testing the water Recognising that different areas have different water properties, Q8 Baroni XGP and Q8 Baroni XCI have both soft and hard water variants. Q8 Baroni XGP designed for multi machining purposes including aerospace alloys and Q8 Baroni XCI for ferrous machining. The lubrication characteristics at the tool tip interface help prevent built-up edge and the bio-stable properties mean that the emulsion does not degrade or produce bad odours. It is particularly suitable for applications where high foaming may be a problem – especially in hard water areas.

Chlorine and sulphur free, Q8 Baroni XHS is a synthetic water soluble cutting and grinding fluid with high Extreme Pressure (EP) performance. Whilst possessing good ferrous machining properties, it can also be used on stainless steel, high tensile steels and Inconels as well as other high specification alloys in general machining applications, thread cutting and forming, deep hole drilling, boring, gear hobbing and creep feed grinding.

“With our Q8 Baroni X range of cutting fluids, we've made a conscious effort to cover just about every metal cutting scenario,” explains Q8Oils' technical manager, Kevin Duncan, “but it would be true to say that the range was launched primarily to cater for the higher end of the market to address many of the challenging machining scenarios that our customers face on a regular basis in high tech sectors such as aerospace and motorsport. Just as with machine tool and cutting tool purchasing decisions, with machining lubricants, you really do get what you pay for! “Q8 Baroni XMG for example is for use on magnesium and aluminium alloys whilst Q8 Baroni XSP is designed to not only be effective on arduous materials such as stainless steels, Inconel, nimonics, but also non-ferrous alloys, copper alloys and aerospace aluminium including 7000 series, composite materials, carbon fibre and plastics. “It's important to emphasise that whilst many of our products are sold off the shelf, we do have a high degree of engineering, chemical and application-specific expertise at our disposal,” he continues. “It's not unusual for customers to request special formulations that deviate from the standard product and providing it's economically viable to do so, we're happy to consider bespoke applications. In these circumstances we work closely with the client to provide the desired solution.” Really neat Although Q8 Baroni X range, as the new kid on the block may be taking centre stage at the moment for some machining applications, it's often far more appropriate to use a neat cutting oil rather than a soluble fluid. A good example of this is broaching where the process is generally relatively slow, but needs high levels of lubrication and viscosity. Continuing with the composer theme, the Q8 Brahms range of neat metal forming lubricants and Q8 Bach series of neat cutting and rolling oils cover just about every base with six and eleven variants respectively. Q8 Bach is particularly extensive with specific products for tapping, heavy-duty machining and honing operations. In addition, the Q8 Bach Replacut renewable resource products provide the latest technology in neat metalworking fluid development, manufactured using vegetable base oils and innovative naturally derived performance additives. Ultra friendly towards the environment, the products have been formulated using in excess of 80% renewable resource components. Q8Oils
www.Q8Oils.co.uk