Lubricants particle contamination

Particles, moisture, soot, heat, air, glycol, fuel, detergents, and process fluids are all contaminants commonly found in industrial lubricants and hydraulic fluids. However, particle contamination is widely recognized as the most destructive contaminant to the oil and machine. This is the reason why the particle counter is the most widely used instrument in oil analysis today. The central strategy to its success in reducing maintenance costs and increasing machine reliability is proactive maintenance. 

Along with particle contamination, it is important to monitor the presence of water in lubricating oils. Various methods are available to accomplish this including many simple field techniques. Once an abnormal level of water is observed, corrective action should be performed to dehydrate or change the oil. 

Aerosol products are hermetically sealed, ensuring that the contents caimot leak, spill, or be contaminated. The packages can be considered to be tamper-proof. They deUver the product in an efficient manner generating Httie waste, often to sites of difficult access. By control of particle size, spray pattern, and volume deUvered per second, the product can be appHed directiy without contact by the user. For example, use of aerosol pesticides can minimize user exposure and aerosol first-aid products can soothe without applying painful pressure to a wound. Spray contact lens solutions can be appHed directiy and aerosol lubricants (qv) can be used on machinery in operation. Some preparations, such as stable foams, can only be packaged as aerosols. 

Extending the inteiwal between oil changes in automobiles and machinery is another way to conserve lubricants. Oil life is limited by depletion of oil additives, overheating, chemical contamination, and contamination of the oil by foreign particles. Using improved additives and filtering of particles, oil life can be considerably extended. 

Other contaminants that can originate from plastic containers are the additives necessary to turn the raw polymer into adequate containers. While PE may be used without any additive, the other plastics are virtually useless alone but are converted into highly serviceable products by combining them with other substances or materials. The additives most commonly found in plastics used for pharmaceutical products are antioxidants, heat stabilizers, lubricants, plasticizers, fillers, and colorants. These additives can be in liquid, solid, or fine particle forms and are used in amounts varying from less than 1% to more than 50% of the plastic mass. The additives necessary for each of the selected types of polymers are described in Table 23. 

Parylenes can be used for contamination control, that is, securing small particles to prevent them from damaging a surface in a sealed unit barrier coaling coaling for corrosion control and as dry lubricants. 

Abrasion occurs when one material is in contact with a harder material. Surface asperities of the harder material cut, plough, or indent characteristic scratches or grooves into the softer material (two-body abrasion). Abrasion can also be caused by hard particles that are trapped in between two surfaces (three-body abrasion). Irregular patterns of small indentations are formed. Contamination in the lubricants can significantly contribute to this type of abrasion. 

A number of undesirable substances could be present on the surface or sorbed into the matrix of the closures, but the predominant contaminants are particles of the closure matrix itself, other rubber compounds, metallic particles, micro-organisms, endotoxins, and template lubricants, which are usually organic in nature. In addition, various extractable substances used in the formulation of... 

The garments used by the workers should be made of synthetic fabrics that minimize contamination risks. Operators should be trained for their work and also for the maintenance of clean conditions and hygiene. Cleaning is a key factor in the maintenance of good conditions and reduces or eliminates potential contaminants that can affect the product. Contaminants can have various sources live particles, inert particles (dusts, glass, file dust, lubricants, etc.) or cross-contamination when different processes or products share the same clean area. To avoid problems, the cleaning procedures should be written and approved, validated, and executed by trained operators. 

The remaining vacuum pumps to be discussed in this chapter fall into a group which remove gas particles from systems by sorption effects such as adsorption, chemisorption/gettering and implantation. They tend to be used on systems where any contamination of the vacuum by pump fluids, lubricants, etc. must be avoided. However, those pumps that remove gas particles exclusively by temperature-dependent gas adsorption on molecular sieves or A1203 (adsorption pumps) will not be discussed. 

Analytical studies of the PVC profile surface indicated that the reasons for failure of the adhesive bond between the PVC film and PVC profile in decorative film laminated structures, was finely dispersed lubricant and wax particles on the PVC profile. These contaminants prevented the build-up of bond forces at the interface between the adhesive and PVC profile. A biodegradable alkaline cleaning agent was developed to remove the contaminants, which, when combined with flame treatment and a solvent free polyurethane hot melt... 

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