Abstract: The oligomerization of 1-decenes was studied with aluminum chloride- cyclohexanone complex as catalyst. The effects of various conditions, such as catalyst amount, reaction temperature, reaction time and cyclohexanone/AlCl3 molar ratio on the yield and properties of poly-alpha-olefins (PAO) were studied. The experiment results show that under the conditions of an AlCl3 mole fraction of 5 %, cyclohexanone/AlCl3 molar ratio of 0.5, a reaction time of 4 h and a reaction temperature of 25℃, the PAO yield can reach 92 % with a viscosity of 8.08 mm2/s (at 100 ℃) and a viscosity index of 174, which indicates that the obtained product is a PAO synthetic lubricant with low viscosity and high viscosity index. As shown by GC analysis results, this PAO product is consisted of trimers and tetramers mainly, having more than 85% of ideal lube components.

Key words: poly-alpha-olefins, 1-decene, aluminum chloride-cyclohexanone complex, oligomerization, viscosity index