Over time, any oil analysis program can become stagnant if few or no improvements are made. This can cause the program to lose value, as it may not fully support the plant’s improvement initiatives, such as achieving certain reliability objectives. What’s worse is that the program manager may not even be aware of the decline.
Machinery maintenance programs based on lube oil condition-monitoring techniques offer rapid payback on investment by reducing equipment downtime and maintenance costs. Wear progression in many types of operating machinery may now be monitored on-site in seconds by untrained staff.
“What are the acceptable limits of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust of gas engines? Recently, one of our customers was facing nitration issues in a gas engine. A nitrogen oxide test was recommended, and the result was 700 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3), which was adjusted to 300 mg/m3.”
“Would you recommend measuring oil contamination using the ASTM E2412 direct trending method, or would another technique be more effective?”
The primary physical characteristics of lubricants that are affected by temperature include viscosity, viscosity index, pour point and the base oil. Let’s deal with these individually.
