The blotter spot test has been discussed numerous times in the pages of Machinery Lubrication magazine. It not only is one of the oldest oil analysis tests (mid-19th century) but endures as one of the most effective at detecting and even quantifying certain lubricant abnormalities.

However, the blotter spot test is not commonly known as a test for detecting and examining particles in oil such as wear debris and dirt.

As a practical matter, its ability to reveal normal and even slightly abnormal amounts of solid particles is limited, especially without the aid of a microscope. This generally is true with other applications of blotter spot testing.

In other words, the lack of a visible structure (rings, starbursts, pasty center, etc.) is an indication of the absence of the target condition. Because of this, the blotter spot test is less likely to produce a false negative compared to other more advanced analytical methods.

While each method has its own unique interferences and lower sensitivity limits, the ability of blotter spot testing to provide a reliable alert to abnormal particle concentrations is undisputable.

The post Blotter Spot Testing for Metallic and Other Solid Particles appeared first on Tesibis.

Book Chapter,
Tribology Data Handbook, an Excellent Friction, Lubrication, and wear Resource.
Edited by E. Richard Booser.

Whenever a proactive maintenance strategy is applied, three steps are necessary to insure that its benefits are achieved. Since proactive maintenance, by definition, involves continuous monitoring and controlling of machine failure root causes, the first step is simply to set a target. or standard, associated with each root cause.

In oil analysis, root causes of greatest importance relate to fluid contamination (particles. moisture, heat, coolant, etc.) and additive degradation. However, the process of defining precise and challenging targets (e.g., high cleanliness) is only the first step. Control of the fluid’s conditions within these targets must then be achieved and sustained. This is the second step and often includes an audit of how fluids become contaminated and then systematically eliminating these entry points. Often better filtration and the use of separators are required.

The third step is the vital action element of providing the feedback loop of an oil analysis program. When exceptions occur (e.g., over target results) remedial actions can then be immediately commissioned. Using the proactive maintenance strategy. contamination control becomes a disciplined activity of monitoring and controlling high fluid cleanliness, not a crude activity of trending dirt levels.

Finally, when the life extension benefits of proactive maintenance are flanked by the early warning benefits of predictive maintenance. a comprehensive condition-based maintenance program results. While proactive maintenance stresses root cause control. predictive maintenance targets the detection of incipient failure of both the fluid’s properties and machine components like bearings and gears. Following the oil sampling procedures. selection of appropriate sample testing procedures, and interpretation of test results outlined in this section. immediate corrective action can then be directed to effectively avoid failure chain reactions and further self-destruction.

The post Elements of an Oil Analysis Program appeared first on Tesibis.

Every industrial organization has experienced the consequences of shoddy maintenance: contract penalties, junked parts, injuries, catastrophic damage, ballooning costs, missed shipping dates, irate customers, and sickly quarterly financial reports. Today, machinery and equipment can be maintained to achieve useful operating lives many times those attainable just a few years ago. For oil lubricated machinery, the opportunities surround what is commonly referred to as proactive maintenance.

Carefully monitoring and controlling the conditions of the oil (nurturing) can systematically eliminate many of the root causes of failure. Case studies of highly successful organizations show that oil analysis plays a central role in this nurturing activity. For oil analysis to succeed, the user organization must first define the goals of the effort.

Some people view oil analysis as a tool to help them time oil changes. Others view it in terms of its fault detection ability. Still others apply it to a strategy for contamination control and filter performance monitoring. In fact, when a program is well designed and implemented, oil analysis can do all of these things and more. The key is defining what the goals will be and designing a program that will effectively meet them. One might refer to it as a ready-aim-fire strategy. The ready has to do with education on the subject of oil analysis and the development of the program goals. The aim uses the knowledge from the education to design a program that effectively meets the goals. The fire executes the plan and finetunes it through continuous improvement.

The post Fundamentals Of Fluid Analysis for Industrial Machinery appeared first on Tesibis.

Abstract: In oil analysis, well placed alarms and limits are like trip wires, alerting operators and technicians to an untoward or threatening condition. Oil analysis limits can vary considerably according to machine type, oil type, and reliability goals. This paper discusses four distinct types of limits and how they are applied to different machine and lubricant applications: goal-based limits, aging limits, rate-of-change limits, and statistical limits.

The post Proactive and Predictive Strategies for Setting Oil Analysis Alarms and Limits appeared first on Tesibis.

A wide range of fluid degradation and contamination-related issues can affect turbine lube oil systems. One serious and growing concern is the presence of sludge and varnish. This condition can occur in even the most well-maintained machines. Surprisingly, it can also happen when oils are not particularly old or contaminated. And it can occur with even the most thermally robust synthetic lubricants and hydraulic fluids.

In turbine systems, there are few failure conditions that can disrupt operation as quickly and completely as a varnished and seized-up control valve operation. This can be the cause of a tripped turbine forced outage or other production losses. So too, sludge in many circulating lube oil systems can gum up flow controls, strainers and critical oil ways. In recent years, there has been a large number of reported cases associated with varnish and sludge formation in turbine-generator applications. Explanations for these problems have varied but typically include Group II mineral oil solubility issues, additive instability, bulk oil oxidation, adiabatic compressive heating and electrostatic discharge, among others. This paper will review precursor conditions that lead to sludge formation, some of the common lubricant degradation methods and the role of oil analysis in recognizing the potential risk well ahead of failure.

The post Review of Degradation Mechanisms Leading to Sludge and Varnish in Modem Turbine Oil Formulations appeared first on Tesibis.

They are labeled and stored by humans. When it comes to humans, there is one inalterable constant – we make mistakes. Sometimes this is due to lack of vigilance. Sometimes it’s lack of knowledge. It might even be because of indifference.

Case in point: in 2001, the American Petroleum Institute (API) audited 562 motor oils that were licensed to bear the API marks – approximately one-third of its licensees (83 percent originating from the United States). The tests were performed to determine compliance with API performance standards. This is what the audit reported:

• 4 percent of the motor oils were classified as having significant deviations (one out of every 25 oils tested). Many had the wrong concentration of additives while others failed to meet low-temperature specifications.
• 16 percent were classified as having marginal deviations (one out of every six oils tested).

The post Should New Lubricant Deliveries be Tested? appeared first on Tesibis.

Optical particle counters (OPC’s) have a long history of use in industrial hydraulic applications. Traditionally, their success has been limited to scientific laboratories and other highly controlled environments. However, in recent years, attempts have been made to apply the use of OPC’s to the particle counting of used hydraulic fluids and industrial lubricants. As a result, serious concerns have been raised regarding the accuracy and reliability of OPC’s in such applications. The objective of this bulletin is to present important facts from reliable and documented sources for the general benefit of existing or prospective users of OPC’s. As particle counting moves into the mainstream of machine condition monitoring, users must have reliable information to identify and select appropriate technologies.

The post The Usefulness of Particle Counting in Oil Analysis appeared first on Tesibis.

Book Chapter. Automotive Lubricants and Testing. Edited by George Totten and Simon Tung

Most oil analysis performed in North America is done on diesel engine crankcase oils, primarily for large fleets in the transportation and off-road equipment industries. Ranking second would be the analysis of lubricants used in stationary industrial machinery including compressors, turbines, gearing, bearing lubes, and hydraulics. Far down the list is engine oil analysis performed on crankcase lubes from automotive fleets or privately owned cars and trucks.

Although there are a few isolated exceptions, condition monitoring of passenger car motor oils (PCMOs) has not yet emerged as a strong market. There are several understandable reasons for this. One is the fact that most car owners are not interested in paying a premium to extend engine life. Most car owners seem to be satisfied with the current engine life expectancy. This is evidenced by the fact that less than 10 % of PCMOs in use are synthetic formulations despite their widely promoted benefits.

Unlike commercial and industrial applications, in which machine owners often run equipment to their end of useful life, car owners are more commonly enticed to sell earlier for newer models. After all, why invest in engine life extension when the benefit of the investment would only be gained by the next owner of the vehicle?

Sampling is another impediment. Automobiles are not fitted with convenient oil sampling valves, nor are these valves easy to retrofit on engines. The only practical alternative is to obtain a sample from the dipstick port by drop-tube vacuum sampling or from the oil pan drain port. Neither of these locations is suitable for obtaining a representative sample.

The other factor is the cost and turnaround time of getting the data. Although laboratory automation has increasingly enabled basic tests to be performed quickly and with minimal cost of labor, routine oil analysis is still expensive for personal car owners. Some instruments are actually an integration of several conventional oil analysis sensors and often include viscometry, molecular spectroscopy, and atomic spectroscopy, typically with no needed glassware or sample preparation steps. So too, many new onboard sensors have been introduced that monitor key oil properties in real time. They displace the need for oil sampling and can alert the car owner to the optimal timing of an oil change or the presence of aberrant oil properties and wear metals.

The post Analysis of In-Service Automotive Engine Oils appeared first on Tesibis.

Most often, users associate an oil analysis program with a systematic early alert to oil or machine failure, i.e., damage control. While these benefits are helpful and frequently achieved, they should be regarded as low on the scale of importance compared to the more rewarding objective of failure avoidance.

Whenever a proactive maintenance strategy is applied, three steps are necessary to insure that its benefits are achieved. Since proactive maintenance, by involves continuous monitoring and controlling of machine failure root cam:es, the first step is simply to set a target, or standard, associated with each root cause.

In oil analysis, root causes of greatest importance relate to fluid contamination (particles, moisture, heat, coolant, etc.) and additive degradation. However, the process of defining precise and challenging targets (e.g., high cleanliness) is only the first step. Control of the fluid’s conditions within these targets must then be achieved and sustained. This is the second step and often includes an audit of how fluids become contaminated and then systematically eliminating these entry points. Often better filtration and the use of separators are required.

The third step is the vital action element of providing the feedback loop of an oil analysis program. When exceptions occur (e.g., over target results) remedial actions can then be immediately commissioned. Using the proactive maintenance strategy, contamination control becomes a disciplined activity of monitoring and controlling high fluid cleanliness, not a crude activity of trending dirt levels.

Finally, when the life extension benefits of proactive maintenance are flanked by the early warning benefits of predictive maintenance, a comprehensive condition-based maintenance program results. While proactive maintenance stresses root cause control, predictive maintenance targets the detection of incipient failure of both the fluid’s properties and machine components like bearings and gears. Following the oil sampling procedures, selection of appropriate sample testing procedures, and interpretation of test results outlined in this section, immediate corrective action can then be directed to effectively avoid failure chain reactions and further self destruction.

The post Elements of a Successful Oil Analysis Program – Part I & II appeared first on Tesibis.

Turning an oil analysis program into a feisty profit center is well within reach of today’s modern maintenance organizations. In fact, it is commonly achieved. The strategy, perhaps, depends less on what the data is trying to communicate than the confidence the user assigns to the data. In fact, successful users of oil analysis have learned that achieving high confidence in oil analysis data is a team effort; the goals and responsibilities are shared equally between both the user and the laboratory. Such programs, when well-applied, result in a satisfying win-win business relationship.

From the user’s perspective, there are many strategic elements to developing a positive working relationship with commercial oil analysis laboratories. When the end user has a basic understanding of the business needs of the laboratory and structures a program consistent with satisfying those needs, the underpinnings of a successful relationship exist. Likewise, the laboratory needs to provide the essential services needed to insure that the oil analysis program is sufficiently information-intensive and builds core value from the point of view of the user and his goals. These goals vary in emphasis from user to user but typically relate to subjects such as reduced lubricant consumption, root cause condition control, and incipient fault detection.

Because a high percentage of today’s oil analysis users are setting up primary or auxiliary labs onsite, the lab-user relationship is changing and needs to be redefined. In such cases the service provider is internal and, being a stakeholder in the organization, would share many of the goals of reliability and cost reduction. However, unlike the commercial lab the onsite er corporate lab may not ~ motivated to achieve high sample volume, peak productivity, and near term profits. Consequently, the relationship must mold to the business environment.

The post How to Develop a “Win-Win” Relationship With Your Oil Analysis Lab appeared first on Tesibis.

I want bad news fast. Why? Problems tend to compound. Rarely do they heal themselves. Instead, the worse things get, the faster they get worse. As time passes, the cost of repair and lost production can soar exponentially.

Maintenance resources need focus and preemptive timing. The longer you wait to respond to what causes failure, the more machine conditions take over control of your schedule and budget. Fix the roof while the sun is shining. It’s not just about keeping machines running but rather keeping them running at the lowest possible cost.

Condition monitoring is an essential troubleshooting tool. It provides examination skills to find the cause or source of an impending problem. When issues are caught early, you have the luxury of convenience and the option of simple remedies, usually with minimal (if any) business interruption.

The post How to Make Your Oil Analysis Program Produce More Alerts appeared first on Tesibis.

Like viscosity, the flash point test has always been a standard part of a lubricant’s specification. And, because of its low cost, simplicity and versatility, the test is popular among the used oil analysis community as well. Most commonly used as a quick pass/fail test for fuel dilution, more applications have surfaced in recent years. The lab analyst can deploy information about a used oil’s flash point to troubleshoot such problems as thermal failure, gamma radiation, solvent contamination, mixed (or wrong) oils, and antifreeze contamination.

The post How to Test Flash Point appeared first on Tesibis.

Rule No. 1: Don’t mix incompatible lubricants.

Rule No. 2: When in doubt, assume that two lubricants, when mixed, will be incompatible and will exhibit adverse side effects.

Many think the question of lubricant compatibility is a trivial matter, and therefore have not given it serious thought. Sadly, I could fill every page in this issue of this website with recent case histories that underscore the importance of the two rules mentioned above.

The post Recognizing the Symptoms of Lubricant Incompatibility appeared first on Tesibis.

Optical particle counters (OPC’s) have a long history of use in industrial hydraulic applications. Traditionally, their success has been limited to scientific laboratories and other highly controlled environments. However, in recent years, attempts have been made to apply the use of OPC’s to the particle counting of used hydraulic fluids and industrial lubricants. As a result, serious concerns have been raised regarding the accuracy and reliability of OPC’s in such applications.

The objective of this bulletin is to present important facts from reliable and documented sources for the general benefit of existing or prospective users of OPC’s. As particle counting moves into the mainstream of machine condition monitoring, users must have reliable information to identify and select appropriate technologies.

The post The Accuracy and Reliability of Optical Particle Counters with Industrial Oils and Hydraulic Fluids appeared first on Tesibis.

Viscosity can go up, down or remain unchanged. The list of root causes that can alter a viscosity reading is quite extensive; hence the reason why viscosity has become such an information-rich measure of used oil condition. After all, when viscosity has not changed, you can rightly conclude that the many known viscosity-altering factors are probably not happening – a good thing for sure.

What’s not so good is when viscosity moves suddenly with no obvious explanation or warning. What does it mean and why did it occur? Let’s explore the many possible causes of low viscosity.

It’s safe to say that viscosity will not change without a forcing event or condition that incites the change. The oil analysis community is aware of the usual suspect conditions or events, but some remain undiscovered or at least are not fully understood. When it comes to an abrupt loss of viscosity or a downward viscosity movement.

The post The Meaning of Low Viscosity appeared first on Tesibis.

The practice of transferring suspended particles to the surface of a membrane for analysis has been around for decades. It is perhaps the earliest method for inspecting solid contaminants and wear debris in a used sample of oil. It is of no surprise that these methods have enduring use today. In fact, some are the basis of recently adopted standardized methods by ASTM and ISO.

While membrane-based procedures for preparing particles for analysis can be time consuming and messy (usually involving the use of glassware and solvents), the benefits can be substantial compared to alternative methods. The main advantage is the ability to both quantitatively and qualitatively describe particle contamination, depending on the method used. As in the case of microscopic particle counting, you see what you’re counting and can confirm visually what appears to be a particle. You can also characterize particle type (e.g., dirt, wear debris, rust, fibers, etc.).

Because of the importance of these techniques to a modern and well-engineered oil analysis program, it seemed like a good time to review the options. There are actually eight different methods that are worth mentioning. Most have previously been covered in Noria publications, but a couple have not. We’ve used all but one of these methods in our failure investigation work here at Noria. A narrative of the methods is provided below and a summary that compares and contrasts them is shown in Table 1.

The post The Power of the Patch (Comparing particle analysis methods using membranes) appeared first on Tesibis.

Many have read the well-documented case studies that convincingly demonstrate the practice of used oil analysis as a sound approach to reduce maintenance and downtime costs. However, for most users, these rewards have evaded their best efforts due to common implementation errors. Like many pursuits in life, there is often a very fine line that marks the division between success and failure. Success in the analysis of lubricating oils seems to consist of a series of such fine lines that must be carefully navigated.

This booklet draws on many years of experience in working with successful users. Its goal is to define a well-marked pathway to insure the success of new users, while at the same time, help existing users out of the slippery pitfalls they may have encountered. This will be accomplished by first identifying the ten most common reasons why oil analysis programs fail and then transitioning them into durable strategies that effectively overcome them.

It will be shown that these strategies depend much more on excellence in execution than the sophistication of underlying technologies. The guiding principle is the condition-based maintenance philosophy due to its penetrating sensitivity to both the causes and effects of failure. The familiar approaches of proactive maintenance (failure root-cause monitoring) and predictive maintenance (failure symptom monitoring) fall under the broad category of condition-based maintenance.

The practical wisdom of oil analysis pundits worldwide teach us that the most successful programs are those that are thoughtfully designed after careful need evaluation with mission and goals well defined. The emphasis is on designing quality and excellence in the beginning, not force-fitting it in along the way (see Figure 1 ). The many strategies and subsidiary tactics described herein are designed to help users achieve this as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The post The Ten Most Common Reasons Why Oil Analysis Programs Fail & the Strategies That Effectively Overcome Them (booklet) appeared first on Tesibis.

There are 8,760 hours in a year. Few plants manage to produce at full capacity for all of those hours. Instead, there are periodic production stoppages due to tooling changes, product changes, scheduled PMs/inspections and unscheduled downtime (reliability issues). Every hour the plant’s assets aren’t utilized is an hour of lost revenue and profits.

Sadly, many plant managers play games with the numbers by ignoring the potential controllability of “scheduled” downtime. Yes, tooling and product changes are unavoidable, but in most other circumstances, there are often practical ways to minimize lost production from scheduled shutdowns.

This can be seen in the difference between typical and top performers in the same industry. For instance, a standard 900-megawatt coal-fired power plant may produce at 86-percent capacity (44 weeks per year), while top performers can exceed 94 percent (48 weeks per year). This is a difference of four weeks of productivity.

Still, no classification of work stoppage causes more agony than unscheduled downtime. The reasons are quite obvious, as a recent online survey of Machinery Lubrication readers discovered. Following is a list of the top reasons unscheduled downtime is so unwelcome:

• Production losses and schedule delays (business interruption)
• Lost revenue and profit (unhappy management/ownership)
• Promised delivery dates are missed (unhappy customers)
• The blame game and damaged relationships between operations and maintenance (morale issues)
• Hurried (botched) repairs cause future problems (cycle of despair)
• Lack of available replacement parts and skilled trades prolongs the downtime interval
• Repairs are at a “cost premium” due to rushed parts purchases, use of overtime labor and collateral damage
• Scheduled “proactive” tasks are replaced by chaotic reactive tasks (leads to future problems)
• Increased work pressure and job stress (job satisfaction issues)
• Safety risks due to rushed work, unskilled work, inferior parts, cutting corners, job stress, etc.

The post The Wrath of Unscheduled Downtime: Why Oil Analysis is a Wise and Effective Defense appeared first on Tesibis.

When an oil’s viscosity makes a significant change it is meaningful. The majority of the characteristics associated with wrong, contaminated or degraded lubricants will cause a change in viscosity. Restated, when trending the viscosity of a used oil and no reportable change occurs, one can conclude that many of the things that could be happening to the oil are not yet occurring. These include oxidation, shear thinning, thermal degradation and many other common condemning conditions.

The post Trouble-Shooting Viscosity Excursions appeared first on Tesibis.

Lubricant analysts face many challenges in trying to translate laboratory data into meaningful comments for those responsible for lubricant and machine health. One could say the analyst gives a voice to the oil in communicating “what hurts”.

But before a doctor can make a diagnosis, he must ask many questions regarding the patient’s health history and lifestyle. Like the doctor, the lubricant analyst requires similar information relating to provenance – that is, the source or the origin – before the data can be accurately diagnosed and corrective actions prescribed.

The post 16 Knowledge Areas to Improve Oil Analysis Interpretation appeared first on Tesibis.