By Jim Fitch
Machinery Lubrication
I often mention the wear debris universe when I lecture on oil analysis topics. This refers to the extensive array of wear particle technologies and tactics that can help reveal the true tribological condition of a machine.
Individually, these tools are often inconclusive when it comes to identifying the source, cause and severity of abnormal wear conditions. They may not even be able to identify the problem at all. Yet when used in combination, they can expose a vivid image of a current or impending failure condition.
A skilled analyst should be well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies and tactics. Not all of these tools need to be at your fingertips, but nonetheless should be available when called upon. Too often, an inexperienced technician will attempt to draw a premature conclusion from little more than a sliver of information in the wear debris universe.
Examples might be a muted iron trend from elemental data or stabilized ISO codes from particle counting. Used alone, these technologies might telegraph to the diagnostician the erroneous appearance of machine health (or disease). Unseen may be an incipient but serious wear condition in need of attention.
Common front-line technologies used for screening purposes include ferrous density analysis, elemental spectroscopy, particle counting and patch testing. Collectively, these technologies pack a powerful punch and are credited with scores of predictive maintenance “saves”.
However, in a high percentage of cases, these technologies would not have earned their hero status if it weren’t for the other tests and methods that peered deeper into the core of the problem.
These include secondary sampling points, filter debris inspection, magnetic plug analysis, sump sediment analysis, SEM-EDS, XRF, ferrography (all methods), acid-dissolution spectroscopy, particle heat treatment, particle impaction testing, chemical microscopy, digital shape profiling, percent of large ferrous particles, rotrode filter spectroscopy, TGA, gravimetric analysis, ultracentrifuge (separation of soluble metal fraction), pore blockage particle counting … and the list goes on.