Lubricant viscosity plays a crucial role in protecting the surfaces of the mating components. One measure of lubricant effectiveness is its ability to sustain shearing under mechanical loads. When subjected to sufficiently large number of cycles of shear, viscosity may drop below acceptable levels making surfaces prone to higher wear. The loss in viscosity is related to the shear thinning characteristics of the lubricant. Even lubricants that have consistent viscosity through a wide temperature range (high viscosity index) may still be susceptible to loss of viscosity when subjected the mechanical shearing. Lubricant selection should be done accounting for both viscosity index as well as shear stability.
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