Viscosity, film strength
Let’s clear this up, as there seems to be some confusion about the difference between film thickness and film strength, and how that relates to viscosity. First of all, viscosity and film strength are material properties. They can be measured independently of operating conditions in an engine. Viscosity is the ratio of shear stress to velocity gradient, and is commonly stated as cP or mPa-s, and has dimensions of (mass/length*time). It can be measured on a simple viscometer, or for non-Newtonian fluids, a rheometer can be used. Viscosity itself does not necessarily determine lubricity. STP oil treatment, honey and glycerin all have similar viscosities but not equal lubricating properties. Film strength is the compressive strength a fluid can undergo before it is squeezed out of a gap under quasi-static conditions. It has units of Pa or psi. It has dimensions of (mass/length*time squared), so it clearly is not the same thing as viscosity. Some ways that have been devised to measure it are the Timken apparatus and the 4-ball test. Yes, these tests do not resemble operating conditions in an engine. But what matters in an engine is film thickness, not film strength per se. The film thickness should be great enough to prevent metal-to-metal contact. The film thickness depends on a lot of things, including viscosity, density, film strength, roughness of the parts being lubricated, relative velocity of the parts, surface tension and the geometry of the parts. The latter can be very important. An example of how important that can be is a product from another industry: dry-running mechanical seals. These seals have two flat faces, one of which has inwardly-facing spiral grooves. Under dynamic conditions, above a certain rotational speed, the grooves cause pressure in the air film to be enough to slightly separate the seal faces, resulting in an air film sufficiently thick to prevent the seal faces from contacting, resulting in long seal life. No one would ever say air is a good lubricant. Yet the seal design and operating conditions create a hydrodynamic condition of virtually no wear. Yes, this is a bit of a nerdy post but I hope it will clarify the terminology a bit. As for 2-cycle oil, use whatever JASO FD oil you prefer.