The definition of a contaminant is any foreign “something” that enters a lubricant during formulation, packaging, transport, storage or service. Contaminants compromise the lubricant’s integrity, performance and service life as well as impart harm to the machine. No lubricant is indemnified from their effects or can safely co-exist with contaminants. So too, there are no lubricants or machines that can realistically be defined as contaminant-free.

The hazards brought on by various types of contaminants have been covered extensively in the pages of Machinery Lubrication magazine. We’ve shown how the damage can progress slowly or attack suddenly and destructively. Either way, contaminants are a serious lubricant disease that merit vigilant attention by lubricant analysts and reliability professionals.

Solid contaminants (also known as particles) come in wide-ranging sizes, shapes, hardness and composition. Often missed in the discussion on particle contamination are the ghost riders that lurk in your oil. These contaminants, which go unnoticed by maintenance staff and unmeasured and unreported by oil analysis labs, need to be exposed and understood. Their destructive capacity is immense, and since conventional filters cannot address them, we must look to other solutions, such as separation technologies.

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