Interest in understanding or have a list of ASTM type tests that will help qualify lubricant products. Specifically, quality standards for impurities like halogens, low melting point metals and elements that can be leached from the product. Customers want to assure integrity of stainless steel and carbon steel components.

Any help or reference or literature
Thanks
Rob

Rob,
I don't have any answers to your questions, but I'm interested in what you are looking for and what other answers you will get. Are you looking for metals other than the ones in a standard oil lab test? A particle count will tell if anything extra is floating around in there; are they looking for finer detailed info?

David Eason

Hello Rob,

There are around 200 or more test that can be performed on a lubricating oil each with their corresponding ASTM code. Each test always look at the different aspect of the oil and will vary depending upon the type of lubricant use as well as the industry.

But these test can be summarize into 3 levels, hence, if you are planning to have a sample of your oil check, consider these 3 levels to achieve full benefit of your lubrication strategy :

Level 1 : Test the Oil for its cleanlinees
This is done with the use of a particle counter. This will determine the health and cleanliness of your oil. It will " NOT " tell what elements or impurities are present, but it will only count the number of particles in different size ranges and summarize into what you call the ISO CODES.


LEVEL 2 : This will check the oil for its chemical and physical properties. Such test includes, amount of moisture in ppm, viscosity, TAN/TBN, rate of oxidation, etc. Again, this level will tell if your oil is still fit for use or not.

LEVEL 3 : Test for oil for Wear Metal Debri. This level will check the oil for presence of metals, in order to determine what particular part is starting to wear out in your equipment. Two of the most common test here are ferrography and spectroanalysis.



Hope this helps.

My Warm Regards,

The following is a pretty comprehensive description of the ASTM tests available, and the purpose, method, limitations of each. But it doesn't include recommended limits, and it's not cheap.

Guide to ASTM Test Methods for the Analysis of Petroleum Products and Lubricants /
R.A. Kishore Nadkarni, editor.
p. cm. -- (ASTM manual series ; 44)
"ASTM Stock Number : MNI.A4."
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8031-2087-7

Here is a partial list of the most common test for oil analysis. Hope this is what you are looking for. Again, each test have their own unique aspect of looking at the oil.

My Warm Regards

ASTM_Codes.xls (27 Kb, 11 downloads)