If liquid is not compressible, why do we need special hydraulic fluid? Why not just use water?

1.83K viewsEngineeringOther

If liquid is not compressible, why do we need special hydraulic fluid? Why not just use water?

In: Engineering

33 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The reason water isn’t used as a hydraulic fluid isn’t anything to do with its compressibility. It has to do with its heat characteristics. 

Water will heat up significantly under pressure, in high pressure situations it will turn into steam even. That’s not good for hydraulic lines. Instead we use an oil that is designed to stay in a similar state at pressure and designed to take the wear and tear of going through these pressure cycles repeatedly.

You are viewing 1 out of 33 answers, click here to view all answers.