www.machinerylubrication.com | January - February 2022 | 5
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to better understand the origin/formation mechanism of
varnish insolubles, including FTIR and solvent extraction.
Colorimetry is also very useful. If soft contaminants are
found, their characterization should be included in the
report as well.
e number of companies adding used filter anal-
ysis to their condition monitoring programs has greatly
increased over the past ten years. Particles have a story
to tell. But to get the full story, go to where the particles
are, not just to where they used to be. ML
About the Author
Jim Fitch has a wealth of "in the trenches" experience
in lubrication, oil analysis, tribology and machinery
failure investigations. Over the past two decades, he
has presented hundreds of courses on these subjects.
Jim has also published more than 200 technical articles,
papers and publications. He serves as a U.S. delegate to
the ISO tribology and oil analysis working group. Since
2002, he has been the director and a board member of
the International Council for Machinery Lubrication.
He is the CEO and a co-founder of Noria Corporation.
Contact Jim at jfitch@noria.com.
Figure 5: An example of Noria's used filter analysis report.
