An Important Part of Your Oil Analysis Program: Used Filter Analysis

by Jeff Walkup , VP Sales & Marketing

In your quest and efforts to be budget conscious, are you guilty of neglecting to capture the value in Used Filter Analysis and SEM?

As most of us within the maintenance and engineering profession will testify, there is tremendous power and value in your used oil analysis program. However, a significant portion of the forensic value is in the inspection and subsequent analysis of the filters in the system itself. In well-filtered systems, a major portion of the wear debris will often be removed by the equipment’s oil filters, often masking the severity of wear that has occurred since the last filter change.

Typically, main lubrication systems incorporate in-system filters to maintain an appropriate lubricant cleanliness level during operation. Since the lubrication filter element removes and retains a major portion of the solid contamination in the lubrication system, evaluating the debris captured within the filter element aids in determining machine condition and root cause analysis (RCA).

The past decade has seen more widespread use of filter debris analysis (FDA) as a condition monitoring tool to detect and analyze abnormal contaminant ingression into the lube system and predict lube system component wear. This is partly due to the increased use of finer filtration in machinery, which decreases wear debris available for detection by traditional sampled oil analysis and even sensor technology.

The U. S. military and other militaries around the world, as well as Original Equipment Manufacturers, have adopted FDA techniques such as SEM-EDS large particle wear debris analysis. Commercial in-service oil laboratories also utilize various FDA techniques, from manual to automated. Therefore, it is incumbent upon end-users and service providers alike to recognize when to employ this wear debris analysis methodology and understand the risk of not doing so.

If you have any questions, let me or one of the many skilled industry professionals explain the benefits of our Filter Analysis & SEM_EDS Technology at your disposal.