Course Outline

How Contamination Control Affects Machine Reliability
• Building reliability through contamination control
• The most destructive contaminants
• How contaminants attack base oil, additives, machine surfaces and impair lubrication
• Proactive maintenance and contamination control
• Proactive maintenance in three steps
• Contamination control and the oil drain interval
• Financial benefits of a top drawer contamination control program

How Lubricants are Formulated to Resist or Control Contaminants
• Base oils and contaminants
• Additives that control contaminants
• Oil oxidation and the role of contamination
• Contamination-based lubricant selection strategies

Heat Contamination
• When is heat a contaminant?
• The Arrhenius Rate Rule and the drain interval
• Mitigating heat effects with lubricant selection
• Thermal stability of oils and grease
• When is hot oil good
• Setting operating temperature limits
• Causes of heat contamination
• Controlling heat contamination in grease
• When to use coolers to control heat
• Heat monitoring strategies and thermography

Particle Contamination
• Wear caused by particle contamination
• Silt lock failure modes
• Machinery contaminant sensitivity by type
• How particles influence oil oxidation
• Describing and quantifying particle contamination
• Particle ingression categories
• How to use the ISO Solid Contaminant Code
• How to set target cleanliness levels for lubricants
• Particles counters
• Patch testing and microscopic analysis of particles
• Particle contamination in grease

Controlling Soft Contaminants
• What are soft contaminants?
• Where do they come from?
• The harm caused by soft contaminants
• Strategies for the analysis of soft contaminants
• Strategies for removing soft contaminants

Moisture Contamination
• Water in oil, states of coexistence
• Harm caused by water contamination on the oil
• Demulsibility characteristics of lubricants
• How water makes other contaminants
• Sensitivity of machines to water contamination by type
• Water and corrosion
• How to set target dryness levels for lubricants
• Technologies and methods for detecting and quantifying moisture levels
• Moisture effects on grease

Air and Gas Contamination
• Air in oil, states of co-existence
• Sources of air contamination
• Troubleshooting air ingression problems
• Air release, foam tendency, and foam stability
• Harm cause by air to the oil and lubrication properties
• How air influences heat and bulk modulus
• Air effects on adiabatic compressive heating and cavitation
• Air and tank design issues

Glycol Contamination
• The destructive potential of glycol (antifreeze) contamination
• Sources of coolant leaks
• Reaction products of glycol/oil mixtures
• Strategies for detecting glycol in oil

Fuel and Soot Contamination
• Sources of fuel and soot contamination in engine oil
• Harm fuel and soot causes engines and lubrication performance
• Methods to detect and monitor fuel and soot
• Soot load versus soot dispersancy
• Soot and EGR engines
• The role of bypass filters and separators in controlling soot

Microbial Contamination
• Types of biological contaminants in lubricants
• Lubricants and applications of highest risk for microbial contaminants
• Harm caused by biological contaminants
• Detecting and controlling microbial contaminants

The Lubricant as a Contaminant
• Incompatible grease and harm caused
• Acidic byproducts of degraded and contaminated lubricants
• Cross contamination, or mixing, of incompatible lubricants
• How to detect a mixed lubricant
• Ways to mitigate the risk of lubricant mixing

Controlling Contaminant Ingression
• Cleanliness of new lubricants
• Controlling contamination during lubricant storage
• Controlling contamination during lubricant handling
• How to inspect machines for contaminant ingression sources
• Breathers and headspace management
• Roll-off machinery cleanliness (new and rebuilt)
• Controlling ingression during machinery inspection and repair
• Parts storage and handling influences on ingression
• How machine design influences contaminant ingression
• Selecting seals for controlling contaminant ingression
• Sources of water contamination
• Using grease to exclude contamination
• Contamination control in laid-up and stand-by equipment

How Lubricant Application Methods Cause or Control Contamination
• Which application methods most effectively control contaminant ingression
• Using a grease gun to reduce contaminant ingression
• Application methods to avoid
• Benefits of oil mist lubrication in controlling ingression
• How to introduce make-up oil to reduce ingression

Contaminant Removal
• Filter type and location options
• Filter construction and media options
• Off-line filtration and it’s unique benefits
• By-pass filters use in diesel and gasoline engines
• When to retrofit filters on bath and splash lubricated machines
• Strategies for filtering high viscosity oils
• Filter performance tests and the Beta Ratio
• How to select a filter for a specific target cleanliness
• Strategies for optimizing the filter change interval
• Strategies for using filter carts
• Settling tanks and reservoir design considerations
• Oil reclamation and Reconditioning Strategies
• Degassing systems
• Magnetic separation of particles
• Air stripping and vacuum dehydration
• Coalescence and water removing filtration
• Electrostatic and charged particle separators
• Centrifugal separators
• Acid scavenging technologies including ion-exchange resins

Flushing Strategies
• What conditions require flushing
• How avoid the need for a flush
• Selecting the correcting flushing strategy
• Defining the use of flushing fluids and equipment
• Common flushing problems

Contamination Control Case Studies
• Gearbox and rolling element bearing applications
• Papermills
• Power plants
• Steel mills
• Petrochemical plants
• General manufacturing