Will wear and corrosion products from stainless steel show up in ferrography analyses?

I'm assuming that you are talking about Direct Read Ferrography or Analytical Ferrography? In either case, strong magnets are used to "lay down" or isolate ferrous material to yield either a numerical WPC or make a slide to judge wear particles under the microscope.

I am aware that there are some magnetic stainless steel alloys. However, I suspect you would not see these materials used in most equipment.

Depending on the concentration, size, shape, and preparation of your sample, your could very well "see" stainless steel particles using analytical ferrography. Aluminum, lead, tin, molybdenum disulfide, fibers, dirt, and other non-ferrous materials do show up on the slide.

Long story short: it is possible to see wear and corrosion products of stainless steel using analytical ferrography (microscopic evaluation).

My opinion: Direct read ferrography would not provide confident results of the non-ferrous materials. I have seen where other trash gets dammed-up in the sensor region that is not ferrous, which can lead to a high WPC number in the absense of numerous ferrous particles.

Good luck.

Thanks Stevis.

Your comments about DR Ferrography make sense.

I am a little confused about analytical ferrography. Is a magnet used to collect the particles to be viewed by analytical ferrography?

Pete,

FYI,
The Ferrogram maker we use, uses a magnet on each side of the slide to align the ferrous material on the slide. I am not sure about other Ferrogram makers.

Pete