Vacuum Oil Equivalents

A lot of confusion exists in the vacuum industry.

Reasons-

Engineers do not know which oil is equivalent to the oil supplied by their plant manufacturer.

Equipment manufacturers rarely give detailed specifications of vacuum oil to be used.

Equipment manufacturers keep changing their recommendation from time to time.

The vacuum oils supplied by equipment manufacturers are prohibitively costly which is a big drain on the very profitability of operations.

Availability of oil recommended by the plant manufacturer may not be there in the country of user.

User of equipment therefore is forced to pay through the nose and also keep huge inventory of vacuum oil.

Sometimes vacuum oil being used goes out of production leaving users in the lurch, For example production of DC-704 was discontinued and equipment manufacturers never bothered to inform users of a replacement. Users were left wondering what to use in place of DC-704.

Users of Vacuum equipment are most of the time wondering “What if a database existed which clearly told me which vacuum oil can be substituted by what vacuum oil”. Even better – if this database gave him transparent, easy to understand reason

s as to why one vacuum oil is alternative to the other vacuum oil. This would surely save a lot of money and botheration for vacuum equipment users.

Based on my exhaustive and in-depth study of vacuum oils, I have prepared an extensive list of vacuum oils being used by the vacuum industry and their equivalents/replacement. The list also details the important properties of these oils because of which these are substitutes.

DIFFUSION PUMP OIL

Supervac Grade	Equivalent Oils	Common Properties that make them Interchangeable
SV-Sigma High Vacuum Silicone Diffusion Pump Oil	DC-704 CVC-4 Hivac F4 Ulvoil D31 Indomet Tetra Santovac 4	Silicone Diffusion Pump Oil. Ultimate vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-7 Torr. Boiling Temperature 220⁰C Gasses being pumped out are corrosive or have high moisture. Long service life.
SV-Sigma + Ultrahigh Vacuum Silicone Diffusion Pump Oil	DC-705, Hivac F5. Santovac 5	Silicone Diffusion Pump oil. Ultimate vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-9 Torr. Boiling temperature 255⁰C. Gives very clean vacuum. Very long service life.
SV-Sigma Fast Silicone Diffusion Pump Oil	DC-702.	Silicone Diffusion Pump Oil. Ultimate Vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-6 Torr. Boiling temperature 190⁰C Vacuum is created very fast. Long service life.
SV-Delta Diffusion Pump Oil	Lion S Lion A Ulvoil D11. CVP 300 CONVOIL 20	Hydrocarbon Diffusion Pump Oil. Ultimate Vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-5 Torr. Boiling Temperature 235⁰C. Economy of operation is very important. Service life 3-6 months.

ROTARY VACUUM PUMP OIL

Supervac Grade	Equivalent Oils	Common Properties that make them Interchangeable
SV-77 Rotary Vacuum Pump Oil	GS-77 LVO 200 LVO 210 LVO 240 LVO 260 LVO 300 LVO 310 Molycoat L-1668FG MD 505 Eurolube A-6, BV-4	Can create vacuum of the order of 6 x 10^-4 Torr. Water white Synthetic Oil Vacuum is created very fast. Can pump out corrosive gasses and high moisture. Down time of pump is very low as oil has very low level of impurities
SV-68 Rotary Vacuum Pum p Oil	R4 R7 Ultragrade19 AdixenA120 Mobil DTE Oil MD502 MD504 N62 VM 68 MR 200 LVO 100 LVO 110 LVO 120 LVO 130 Molycoat L-0610 VM 100 KV100 N62 CVC 70/19 INLAND 19 Alcatel Adixen A 200 Alcatel Adixen A 120 NEOVAC MR-200	Can create vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-3 Torr. Organic Distilled oil. Economy of operation is of paramount importance. Rotary Pump is not a front line pump and is backing a Diffusion or Booster pump Operating conditions are not very demanding.
	1) Hydraulic Oils, 2) Automotive oils 3) Turbine oils	These are not meant for Vacuum Pumps and can seriously damage vacuum pump. *NEVER USE THESE* for Vacuum Pump.

BOOSTER PUMP OIL

Supervac Grade

Equivalent Oils

Common Properties that make them Interchangeable

SV-JS Silicone Vapour Jet Booster Pump Oil

Best in the world. No equivalent exists

Silicone Booster Pump Oil.
Ultimate vacuum of the order of 1 x 10^-5 Torr.
Can pump out corrosive gasses and high moisture.
Creates vacuum very fast.
Gives long service life and ensures low down time.

SV-JH Organic Vapour Jet Booster Pump Oil

1) Apiezon booster pump oil AP 201

Hydrocarbon Booster Pump Oil.
Ultimate Vacuum of the order of 5 x 10^-4 Torr.
Economical to use.
Service life 4-6 months.
Creates vacuum fast.

Supervac Grade

Equivalent Grease

Common Properties that make them Interchangeable

SV-G9 High Vacuum Silicone Grease

1. MOLY KOTE M44

Water proof and moisture resistant.
Very low vapor pressure.
Corrosion inhibitor.
SV-G9 can withstand temperatures as low as -25°C to as high as 250° C.
Will not catch fire.
Will not be runny at high temperatures.
Will not form solid deposits on the vacuum system in low temperatures.

Conclusion-

In today’s competitive scenario it is important that production costs are optimized. Most of the times we are not at liberty to buy exorbitantly priced oils from equipment manufacturer; neither can we keep a huge inventory of vacuum oil just because it is not easily available in the country of operation.

Supervac therefore came up with manufacture of vacuum oils that are-

Reasonably priced
Excellent substitutes for costly vacuum oils
World class quality manufactured using cutting edge technology
Have very long service life
Delivered immediately
Available world over

January 30, 2017 By Anshuman Punj Vacuum Pump Oil

About the author

Anshuman Punj is a post-graduate mechanical engineer and an MBA by qualification. (B.Tech.-Mechanical Engineering, M.Tech.-Tool Design, MBA-specialization in Materials Management). He has worked at various management positions in the private sector as well as a consultant, Design for Tooling. (Eicher Goodearth, Modi Xerox and Hero Motors). This was followed by an illustrious career in the Indian Railways as a Class 1 officer. Coming across the upcoming and challenging field of vacuum deposition, Anshuman quit the government service in order to develop several ground breaking vacuum products that could be manufactured in-country. Today, he is the CEO of Supervac Industries, a highly successful Indian company that manufactures and supplies vacuum consumables to a large number of customers around the world. Anshuman Punj heads Supervac Industries which is known world-wide for its high quality and reasonably priced products. With 17 years of experience in the Vacuum Industry, he regularly writes articles and blogs on Vacuum products and applications.