News

It’s a win-win for ALS and one of our clients and proves the value of oil analysis. ALS was sent an excerpt in an Annual Report from one of our PLP’s (Private Label Programs) we do. The excerpt was about how the implementation of proactive maintenance practices (including oil analysis) as part of a reliability centered lubrication program, was used to maximize uptime and cost avoidance for one of their clients. The end user is a family owned construction company located in the state of Washington. Read More

Over the past few years, the hot topic at many maintenance and reliability conferences has been the use of IoT also known as ‘the Internet of Things’. When thinking of equipment, we often draw comparisons of equipment to the human body. In the broadest sense, IoT is the nervous system of equipment. Our bodies can sense of touch, movement, balance, smell, taste, sight, pressure, temperature, and auditory vibrations. The information is received by various nerves and transmitted to our brains for processing. How we respond to this data is based on the judgement of how we perceive the information. Read More

A lubricant’s film strength plays a part in how well the lubricant film thickness between moving parts protects and performs against friction and wear. Lubrication film strength is the ability for a lubricant film separating moving parts to not break under pressure, which is a critical property in avoiding metal to metal surface contact.  This is especially important for thin film lubrication under high pressure situations. Read More

A Heat Transfer fluid is a fluid that can perform reliably in heat transfer systems or heat exchangers using hot-oil heat exchangers. Heat transfer fluids are typically formulated with highly refined mineral oils or silicon-based fluids, this short article will primarily address mineral oil-based fluids. Read More

Historically sulfur when used in lubricating oil formulation chemistry it has been used as an additive for an antioxidant, part of antiwear (AW) compounding, extreme pressure (EP), and enhanced lubricity properties (the oil's ability to lubricate under boundary metal-to-metal contact conditions).  Read More

There can be occasions when it is required to idle equipment for extended periods of time due to production requirements, economic conditions, or other situations. There are some basic practices that can ensure equipment is mothballed properly so that equipment is protected during storage or idle time.  A little investment will protect equipment value for resale or reliable performance for production startup. Read More

A procedure used to determine the amount of soot in lubricants is called Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.  In this process, an infrared beam (laser) is passed through a sample.  Some of the infrared energy will be absorbed by the sample and some will pass through, depending on what chemical structures (molecules) are present.  Different molecules will have different spectral “fingerprints” or absorption characteristics.  This means that, if a specific molecule is present within the sample, a peak will be observed at a constant absorption wavelength.  For example, molecules that contribute to oxidation will generate a peak in the 1800 – 1670 cm-1 range and those that contribute to nitration are in the 1650 to 1600 cm-1 range.  The peak will depend on the amount of molecules present within the sample (concentration). Read More

The ability to effectively report oil analysis data in relation to asset reliability using trending analysis has the capability to move from a one-off reactive exercise to an overall proactive plan to improve return on investment.  Return on investment can be increased by means of proper management of testing in-service lubricants (as well as coolants), good reporting tools, as well as targets and establishment of measurables to effectively improve asset reliability.  Below are examples of areas that can be targeted for setting and defining goals to make your fluids analysis program a true success.  Read More

Evaluation of grease using conventional test methodologies can be very time consuming and expensive, and can require a significantly large sample of grease. While this can be a deterrent for implementing grease analysis as part of a predictive maintenance program, technological advances have been made in this area which streamline the ability to test small samples of used grease.  Read More

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