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Bewildering Oil Analysis Results
Kal Farooq, Staff Engineer, Pall Corp.
Perform a simple test by filtering a 25 ml aliquot of
the fluid sample througha 25 mm diameter, 0.8 micron analysis
membrane using commonly available vacuum draw-down set-up.
Examine the contaminant, if any, that are captured on
the membrane under a microscope.
Pall has reference photomicrographs using 25 ml aliquot
of fluid sample of various contamination level through
25 mm diameter, 0.8 micron analysis membranes. If microscopic
examination correlates with laser counts then particles
are actually present and can be identified by SEM/XES
or PIXE for their elemental composition.
If microscopic examination does not correlates with laser
counts then the high counts might have been due to air
bubbles in the sample or faulty counter calibration.
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