Scintillation Method of Analysis for Determination of Properties of Wear Particles in Lubricating Oils,

Nowaday there is a demand for effective methods and equipment for early detection of failures of aircraft engines. The spectral diagnostics methods used in Russian civil aviation have a low information capacity and poor metrological features and they can not be used for reliable prognosis of the engine serviceability. Applied Physics Institute of Irkutsk State University Russia together with Joint-Stock Company Baikal Airlines have elaborated the scintillation method of analysis of lubricating oils for wear products. It enables to obtain quickly and with high accuracy the information on 1 a metal wear particles content, 2 a dissolved metal content, 3 an amount of wear particles, 4 an amount of simple particles, 5 an amount of complex particles, and 6 a composition of each particle. The exact determination of wear particle composition including micron-sized particles of Fe-Cu, Fe-Ni, Fe-Ag permits to pursue the unit-to-unit diagnostics of aircraft engines. In addition to the civil aviation the scintillation method is applicable for diagnostics of an equipments in airforce, a navy, a petroleum and engineering industries, in automobile, railway and sea transport and other engines and machines. Besides, this method may be useful for tribological investigation of a quality of lubricant materials, in the development of new lubricants.