Carburants, Lubrifiants & Fluides pour le Transport
The GFC is comprised of four technical committees:
Technical Committee on Lubricants for Thermal Vehicles (CTLVT)
The objectives of the CTLVT are to identify the needs, at the French level, for test procedures for the evaluation of the performance of lubricants used in land vehicles (cars, trucks, tractors, construction,...). , develop, publish, disseminate and monitor these procedures in the areas of:
- Motor lubricants (former CTLM committee)
- Transmission lubricants and greases (former CTLT committee created in 1967)
Technical Committee for Motor Fuels (CTCM)
The CTCM, Technical Committee on Motor Fuels, is the forum for discussion and study of issues relating to fuels and engines of all types within the GFC. Made up of French experts in these technical fields, the CTCM’s main tasks are to share national and European experiences and to manage the sub-working groups attached to it.
Technical Committee on Other Fluids (CTAF)
The Technical Committee of Other Fluids (CTAF) was created in 1991 to be integrated into the CEC first as FSG (Fluids Special Group) in 1996 within the framework of the CEC’s committees (ECTC Engine Coolants Technical Committee). Following the meeting of 20 April 2001 in Paris, it becomes a technical committee of the GFC with the same active members: French, Italian, Spanish, English and German. He is currently mainly focused on coolants, but has in the past worked on brake fluids and vehicle cleaning products
Electrified Vehicles Technical Committee (CTVE)
The Electrified Vehicles Technical Committee (CTVE), created in 2022, brings together the growing activities on electrification initially carried out by members of the CTAF and the CTLT; The objective is to identify, develop, publish, or develop test methods for current and new lubricant and heat transfer fluids in hybrid and electric vehicle applications, to disseminate and monitor
Several working groups are already open on the aspects of corrosion, presence and consequences of water, electrical properties, lubrication/wear.
Other activity: Statistical training
Documents to download for members in my space/files (at the end)
Technical committee of Transmission Lubricants ( CTLT) The CTLT, Technical Committee Transmissions Lubricants, is the French equivalent of the former TLTC (Transmission Lubricants Technical Committee) of the CEC. It was created from 1967 and is interested in lubricants necessary for the transmissions of the ground vehicles (automobiles, heavy trucks, tractors, machines of construction site); It is worth to notice that it works also on greases.
The CTLM, Technical Committee of Engine Lubricants, is one of the four Technical Committees of the GFC, the activity of which focuses on the evaluation of the performances of the lubricants for internal combustion engines.
The history of the CTLM dates back to the origins of the GFC in 1963.
The GFC was the French equivalent of the CEC-ELTC (Engine Lubricant Technical Committee) until the profound reorganization of the CEC in 2001.
The CTLM brings together GFC member companies and has 18 members in 2018.
Chairman of CTLM : Jean-Claude FORT (FEV)
Deputy Chairman of CTLM : Laurent TIQUET (IESPM)
The activities of the CTLM - The main working groups and the test methods
SG7-10 Impact of biodiesel on PAI (by FTIR)
Pilote: Laurent TIQUET / IESPMRating of engines
Pilote: Jean-Claude FORT / FEV
Fuel engines Technical Committee brings together members of the GFC:
The CTCM - Committee Technique of fuel engines--is within the GFC, a forum of discussions and study of issues relating to properties and characterization of fuels for internal combustion engines.
Composed of experts in the relevant technical areas (analysis, use, development...), the CTCM has for essential missions the sharing of experiences at national and European levelas well as piloting the sub-groups whose studies focus on assessment and monitoring of evaluation methods.
Chairman of CTCM : Alain QUIGNARD (IFPEN)
The Member companies of the CTCM are as follows:
The CTCM tests methods created by the CTCM are tools reliable and regularly used by the industry to evaluate the performance of fuels for internal combustion engines.
They were created in the continuing effort to offer to the end user - the motorist - quality products, validated by a set of tests standardized, relevant, reliable and recognized by all the oil and automobile industry.
The main methods used to evaluate the influence of the quality of fuels or additives on the performance of the engines. So the GFC-CTCM catalogue offers test methods aimed at reproducing the following phenomena:
The creation of a test method is primarily motivated by the aim of reproducing - at a lower cost-, a phenomenon identified or potential on engine in service. This may be necessary as a result of a problem observed in use, or during the development of new engine technologies, which we want to assess the sensitivity to the properties and the quality of fuels.
A working group, said investigative, can therefore be established to document the problem, make a synthesis and assess the need for the creation of a specific test method. Where this need would be clearly established, When the test method is no longer used or becomes obsolete, it loses the official recognition of the GFC. The group becomes a project group, which is entrusted with the role of development of the test method to reproduce the phenomenon.
The final product of the Working Group is a ready to use test method, validated by inter-laboratory tests, which have demonstrated the statistical validity (discrimination, repeatability, reproducibility) of the results obtained.
After validation of this method, the Group becomes a monitoring group, and is responsible for the organization of regular round robin tests, in order to follow closely, during the lifetime of the method, its characteristics of accuracy and relevance.
It is also this monitoring group that can organize campaigns of exploitation of the method e.g. operating to characterize a market or to decide on the obsolescence of a method and its withdrawal (availability of parts, loss of representativeness…).
When the first version of the test method is finalized and the circular test campaign is ready to be engaged, the method is known as experimental, and it receives the "X" status. When this campaign is concluded and if the results were good in quality and acceptable in precision, the method is said Tentative, and receives the "T". The status 'A', as approved, is obtained only after circular tests showing a good reproducibility, defined with the participation of statisticians from the GFC.
When the test method is no longer used or becomes obsolete, it loses the official recognition of the GFC.
The most recent work of the CTCM focused on the following themes:
Chairman: interim Claude DELARUE (GFC)
Vice chairman : M. Ralf Strauss (BASF-D)
Since 1980, a working group of the GFC in the CTLM (engines lubricants technical committee), has developed methods of testing the cooling liquids. A collection was published in 1990: GFC-L-100-A-90, “coolant for Internal-Combustion engines”, containing 8 methods at the "approved" status. Their repeatability and reproducibility is perfectly defined, these methods were transmitted to the BNA (Automotive standardization office in AFNOR) and contributed greatly to the development of the first French standard on the cooling liquids: NF-R-15-601.
In 1991, the technical Committee on other fluids was created and took over the activity of the Working Group of the CTLM by expanding beyond the cooling liquids. Integrated in 1996 within the CEC as Fluids Special Group (FSG), the CTAF continued its work in the context of the ECTC (Engine Coolants Technical Committee) until 2001. Following the meeting of 20 April 2001, the ECTC had no longer enough dynamics to continue its work within the new CEC and the group returned to the GFC in retaining its European members (French, German, Belgian, Spanish, English,...).
Today, the CTAF has 15 participants, and its members meet 2-3 times a year. This number is growing since 2001, and the CTAF remains a working group with a European vocation. The CTAF activity focuses on the cooling liquids. To date, some of the methods of 1990 have already been reworked, and others will be revised soon. In addition new methods, initiated from the work of the GFC.
The CTAF has several missions within the GFC; these are mainly:
The main topics are:
Creation of 2 working groups in 2005
Creation of a Working Group in 2011
