Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1449093
28 | January - February 2022 | www . machinerylubrication.com CONDITION MONITORING, LUBRICANT ANALYSIS AND TROUBLESHOOTING Since the fluid is the part we are worried about, we need to look at the physical and chemical properties of the oil. We need to ask ourselves: What is the most important property of a hydraulic fluid? e viscosity of the fluid. Since the fluid is doing the work, we need to make sure that it is still the right viscosity. What are some of the things that influence viscosity? Acid /ba se nu mber inf luences viscosity, so it's a good idea to keep tabs on these. Oxidation also inf luences viscosity; this is where that FTIR comes in handy. What other desirable things are in the oil? Our additives. These t ypically show themselves in either the FTIR or Elemental Spectroscopy. Good thing we thought ahead and got that baseline of the oil as it came in, right? How about a ll of the outside factors? We know about the debris that gets generated within the machine from the work it does. We know about the health of the lubricant, the chemical and physical properties. e one thing we haven't touched on a whole lot is the stuff getting into the oil/equipment that we aren't putting in there on purpose: the contaminants. The contaminants are going to affect both the oil and the equipment, and none of it in a good way. So we need to look at what types of contam- inants are being introduced to our equipment/lubricants. Does this piece of equipment breath through the headspace (does the oil level fluctuate depending on cylinder movement or operating conditions)? If it does, at the very least we need to look at particles and probably moisture as well. e cleaner and drier the oil, the longer it will last, and we have a lot lower likelihood of having early fail- ures. Particle counts and moisture levels are key, and both are easily detected by and commonly included with FTIR and elemental spectroscopy. (Seriously, those two tests are staples in oil analysis for a reason.) Maybe you want to get hands-on with testing for contaminants, and you are trying to go the extra distance. Patch testing is a fairly simple concept and lets you look at the contaminants yourself so you can see exactly what is going on. Now, if you are looking at motor oils, you might have a bit of a different concern, especially with older equip- ment that might have a bit of wear but a lot of life left. Usually, one of the biggest worries is blow-by or getting a bit of fuel into your oil. is would typically show itself as a change of viscosity or a change in aroma. Something that could be a bit more worrisome is the flash point. Depending on the application, this could be a safety concern as well. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list of tests available but more of an introduction and an expla- nation as to why one test might be more relevant to your situation. e real takeaway should be the answer to this question: "What do I want to learn and what is important for this piece of equipment?" ML About the Author Jeremie Edwards is an Associate Technical Consultant at Noria Corporation. He is one of an elite few certified by the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) as a Machinery Lubrication Engineer (MLE) and did so in order to become the best advisor for clients when it comes to their continuing education needs. Before joining Noria, Jeremie served six years in the U.S. Army as a parachute rigger and was deployed in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Germany.