Something old, something new, something borrowed and something failed.

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something certainly failed. Can we delve deeper to know what happened?

An interesting case again today. A sample of oil showed very high iron by LubeWear analysis, but very little by standard traditional elemental analysis. This suggested the wear particles were much bigger and can be classed as abnormal wear. To find out why, we did some microscopic analysis to determine what the shape of the particles were. There was some cutting wear and fatigue spalls present as can be seen in the photo above consistent with dirt ingress, but in addition to this there was noticeable discolouration of the metal, termed blueing.

These wear particles have been subjected to extremes of metal. A little similar to how metal discolours with a blow torch.

In this case the shape of the particles suggests an abrasive wear process. The blueing suggests the abrasive wear has lead to extreme temperatures from the very high frictional forces.

A lot can be learnt from the shape and colour of the particles under a microscope concerning how machinery fails, but what if you could go even further.

LubeWear 3D – taking microscopy of wear particles to the next level.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know I am a big fan of the LubeWear method for detecting failures much earlier than ordinary wear metal analysis. You will see I have published a few articles about its principles. Well the people who brought you this have now introduced a new light microscopy technique to 3D scan particles to get the most out of your wear metal analysis. You can see a short video about this technique and is offered routinely as part an investigative, ferrographic, deposit or filter analysis.

If you want to find out the true cause of failures or better still want to prevent them in the first place please use the contact us button at the bottom right of this screen to find out more.