Drop od knowledge #5

Ecol laboratory – what was happening in May?

1. 1. Why oil cleanliness is important? 🡪
2. 2. Knowledge base at ecol.eu – check out our entries 🡪
3. 3. You can meet us in June: 🡪
4. 4. Element of the month 🡪

1. Why is oil cleanliness important?

Impurities in oil. Where do they come from?

By oil cleanliness is meant the amount of contaminants in the oil. In addition to those entering from outside, contaminants are generated by the system in the form of wear particles and oil (oil base degradation particles). Contaminants in the oil, especially large ones,
are dangerous to the equipment and affect its service life, significantly reducing it. In addition to negatively affecting the lubrication system, contaminants can also accelerate oil degradation.

How do you monitor oil cleanliness?

In order to keep track of oil cleanliness, laboratory tests are performed for the so-called cleanliness class. The results of particle counts and size ranges can be presented differently depending on the standard used. In the Ecol laboratory, we usually present a cleanliness class code according to ISO 4406, e.g. 18/16/13. The higher the values in the code, the more heavily contaminated the oil is. A change of 1 indicates a doubling of the amount of contamination. Depending on the type of application, different requirements are placed on the purity class.

Because of the dangers of contaminated oil, monitoring of the cleanliness class should be carried out and care should be taken to ensure the cleanliness of the oil, e.g. by using bypass filtration.

Knowledge base at ecol.eu – check out our entries

We encourage you to visit the ‘knowledge base’ section of the ecol.eu website, where you will find many valuable entries in the field of diagnostics and laboratory analysis. One of these is our latest article:

➡️ “Causes of foaming of hydraulic oil”. (direct link).

Entries can be sorted by technology and industry. Additional sorting includes list of tests performed in our laboratory.

Our knowledge base is constantly evolving. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you see an opportunity to publish a joint entry related to the topic of oil testing and diagnostics in the broadest sense.

4. Element of the month

Silicon is the second most widespread element on earth after oxygen.
In the form of silica it is mainly found in sand and rocks. Uses of silicon include:

• glass production,
• building materials,
• ceramic products,
• silica gel (drying agent),
• petrochemicals (lubricants).

In oil diagnostics, silicon is mainly associated with contaminants from the from the environment, which enters the system through, for example, a breathing filter/air filter. In addition, silicon as a contaminant can also come from:

• silicone sealings,
• assembly pastes,
• filter fibres,
• another lubricant.

In the field of oil diagnostics, silicon is assumed to be a rather undesirable element, unless it is an additive fulfilling an anti-foaming role.
In this case, it can sometimes be observed in tests as its concentration decreases over time. Silicon can also form an oil base (silicone oil). Interestingly, silicone oil is immiscible with any other oil.