Wear Debris Monitoring

This works on the principle that the working surfaces of a machine are washed by their lubricating oil, and any damage to them should be detectable from particles of wear debris in the oil. If the debris consists of relatively large ferrous lumps such as those generated by the fatigue of rolling element bearings and gears or the pitting of cams and taproots, these can be picked up by removable magnetic plugs inserted in the oil return lines.

For small debris particle, spectrographic analysis or microscopic examination of oil samples after magnetic separation are commonly used techniques. Another popular technique is SOAP Analysis for debris monitoring.