Particle Counting: Why Smaller Particles Lead to Big Trouble
MACHINERY LUBRICATION INDIA|January - February 2023
CONDITION MONITORING, LUBRICANT ANALYSIS AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Travis Richardson
Particle Counting: Why Smaller Particles Lead to Big Trouble

Factor: A2P

If you have been in the Maintenance/ Reliability space for any length of time, you may have heard someone "We need to drain or change the oil because of the number of particles that can be seen." While checking for contaminants is a must for any great inspection program, it is important to know that the particles doing the most damage to machine parts are far too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Why Small Particles Matter

More Without a magnifying glass or microscope, the human eye can only see particles down to about 40 microns in size. The particles doing the most damage to our lubricants are in the 3-10 micron range, way smaller than what can be seen on a typical visual inspection of the lubricant. These particles are more concerning than their larger counterparts because they are close to the size of typical film thicknesses, which can allow them to go through the load zone, causing damage to machine parts.

  • Hydrodynamic Lubrication (Sliding) Typical oil films are 5-20 microns.
  • Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (Rolling) Oil films can be less than 1 micron.

Breaking it Down

This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of MACHINERY LUBRICATION INDIA.

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This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of MACHINERY LUBRICATION INDIA.

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