OilView News # 55, WDA is the Referee by Ray Garvey Do you know who the referee is for the

game of "industrial oil analysis?" What if the oil analysis results show that there MAY be a problem, but you are not sure? What if you are sure there is a problem, but don't know what the problem is or what the cause may be? In these cases you want to call in the referee to help you make the best possible call on your oil analysis. The referee's name is Wear Debris Analysis (WDA). WDA is the silver bullet in your arsenal. Use it to see firsthand what kind of solid particles are being carried around by your oil. Just like the medical doctor uses blood analysis to identify physical problems with organs and bodily systems, you can use WDA to identify the nature of mechanical problems and system contamination. Use the automatic measurements of chemistry, contamination, and wear to select the samples worthy of personal attention. You can be confident that the ferrous index, contaminant index, particle count, and particle size distribution measurements will distinguish all of the potentially bad samples from the routine. Since each of these measurements respond differently to water, iron, non-ferrous metals, dust, and other solids, you can get a pretty good idea what to expect that you will see using WDA. The more samples you test and the more you learn about your applications, the better you will be at forecasting what the conclusions of WDA will be. You might even think of it as a game-- you come up with an idea of what the outcome of WDA will be, and then see if you are right when you inspect the debris. You can't loose. If you're right, pat yourself on the back and go take the corrective measures you had in mind anyway. If you're wrong and WDA showed you something new, then good for you! You successfully used WDA to improve your success ratio. So how do you do WDA? You have lots of choices. I prefer to use the 5200. After doing tests 1, 2, and 3, you simply make a decision as to whether you want to make 0 to 4 filter patches for WDA. You don't make any patches at all if there isn't anything of interest in the ferrous index, contaminant index, particle count, or size distribution information. If you notice a high value in one or more of these measurements, or if you noticed anything visually in the sample bottle, you can choose to make a single patch (everything on it) or a double patch (large particles on the top patch with smaller ones on a lower patch). You can also choose to extract all the ferrous debris so that all the non-ferrous debris can be accumulated first and ferrous debris can be collected in a second patch or double patch arrangement.
http://www.compsys.com/DRKNOW/PRODINFO.NSF/63f2d82b29576642852564520049de98/aac30b7648e94fa68525698f006e3ea3!OpenDocument

The 5100 minilab user can employ the 51WD Wear Debris Patch maker in much the same way.
http://www.compsys.com/DRKNOW/PRODINFO.NSF/63f2d82b29576642852564520049de98/9044f44ecd65b7f0852567b40048e072?OpenDocument

Analytical Ferrography and Rotary Particle Deposition are two alternative methods. Both of these methods use a glass slide instead of filter patch to accumulate ferrous and non-ferrous sediments for microscopic inspection. If you don't have one of these instruments, you can still do WDA using an inverted bottle with a magnet under the lid. The important thing is to collect the debris on a surface and to have it spread out so that you can see individual particles. There are advantages and disadvantages to each method which I will not take time to go into at this point.

Once you have deposited solids from the oil on patch(es) or slide(s) you then use a microscope to carefully inspect and determine their nature and origin. The 51CV Image Capture kit is used with the OilView WDA software module (Part Number 475103) to photograph and classify the concentration, size, shape, texture, composition, classification, and severity. A helpful tool is the quick reference atlas. By selecting an atlas image with similar features to a sample image, you can copy the atlas image features over to the sample image. Then simply edit the pasted results to match the analysis to your sample image.
http://www.compsys.com/DRKNOW/PRODINFO.NSF/63f2d82b29576642852564520049de98/42577c0842764631852566b3005abd5c?OpenDocument

The WDA severity is appended to the overall Wear Condition for the sample. Your WDA severity is combined with all the other oil analysis parameters reflected in the various reporting options in the OilView software. You may want to include a picture of the equipment or component when writing the final report. This helps show where the specific problem and sampling point are located. Abrasion, adhesion, fatigue, and corrosion are four of the most frequently observed abnormal wear debris for industrial equipment. Abrasion is commonly caused by dirt in the oil. Adhesion is the result of lubricant starvation. Fatigue is often associated with vibration type problems such as misalignment, imbalance, or improper fit. Corrosion results when water or other corrosive fluids chemically attack metal surfaces. WDA is the referee that can effectively distinguish these particles from one another and establish/validate problem severity. Best regards, Ray Garvey mailto:garveyr@compsys.com
If you no longer wish to receive the OilView Newsletter, please respond to this email with the subject line "Remove from OilView News" To learn more about CSI, visit our website at http://www.CSImeansReliability.com or call: (865) 675-2400