Particle Count on high viscosity gear oils?

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Here is the back ground info: We decided to have our off site lab perform tests on all our oils used at our plant for baseline information. The reference samples we sent came straight out of our warehouse. The samples were drawn through a 1 micron filter into a certified clean container.

My question is: Do high viscosity / opaque oils give odd results on the Particle Count and metals? Some of our results show a particle count of 25/25/18 and an Fe of 50ppm. The oils are a cylinder oil W 680 and a machine gear oil AW 680. If the oil contains animal fats (lard) as with the cylinder oil W, will the fat show up as particles on the Particle Count?

Do we even need to use Particle Count results for gear box analysis, if the oil already indicates a high P.C. when it is new?

1/13/0510:04 AM

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Original Post

michelleMember

Firstly find out what type of particle counter is used. A laser particle counter is effected by the colour (opaqueness) of the oil as it obtains a particle count by counting the shadows produced by the particles passing through the path og the laser. The fact that you have 50 ppm Fe shows that the high particle count is probably correct. Remember these Fe particles could be so small that they are not visible to the eye. Oils are usually cleaner in use (after filtration) than they are new. The fat should not show up as particles.

1/14/051:26 AM

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