MINERALS & METALS

Lubricants Testing and Failure Analysis Service Overview

AGAT Laboratories’ Lubricants Testing Services perform numerous analytical tests that aid industry in monitoring equipment condition, determine contaminant types and their sources and provide analyses results and recommendations that can help to mitigate or eliminate component failures, thus helping industry to improve its equipment reliability.

These analyses include a full spectrum of the following:

• Diesel, natural gas and gasoline engine oil analysis
• Gear oil analysis
• Transmission, differential and final drive fluid analysis
• Hydraulic fluid analysis
• Compressor, bearing and pump lubricant analysis
• Gas and steam turbine lubricant analysis
• Gasoline and diesel fuel analysis
• Coolant analysis
• Contaminant analysis
• Aviation fuel analysis and certification
• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
• X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD)
• Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX)

Our Lubricants Testing Services demonstrate exceptional turn-around times and is ISO 9001 certified and ISO 17025 accredited, for specific tests.

Our Lubrication, Equipment Reliability and Maintenance Strategies

With condition-based maintenance, AGAT Laboratories technicians and equipment reliability specialists can:

• Provide you with early warning signs of potential failure
• Monitor the condition of your equipment and lubricants
• Reduce unscheduled down-time
• Determine optimum oil drain periods
• Make recommendations for improved equipment condition

We recommend being proactive in your maintenance so that you can:

• Identify the root cause of failures
• Monitor contaminants and identify possible sources
• Eliminate the source of contamination resulting in longer equipment life and reliability
• Identify minor problems before they become major failures
• Protect warranties by identifying problems prior to warranty expiration

WebOAS

At AGAT Laboratories, we provide a software package that allows clients access to view and maintain their analyses results via the internet. You can update information, obtain laboratory data, view and print historical trends of your analytical data, submit samples and assign corrective actions with WebOAS. This program instantaneously transfers data and analysis results free-of-charge, with no installations necessary.

WebOAS has the ability to change unit information (i.e. serial number or hours/kilometers of operation) online. Drag and drop functionality makes it simple to move equipment from location to location, unit to unit. This enables you to group units by data requirements such as location, component or any other criteria required. The system will allow further groupings of each of the data groups to include items such as engine or transmission types.

WebOAS users can also enter and submit their own samples online, enhancing sample information accuracy and analysis turn-around time. Bar-coded sample tags containing equipment data can be printed for ease of sample submission, PDF images and photos can be up-loaded, client customization can be made and all types of maintenance, repair and condition monitoring information can be stored in one convenient place. In addition, complete and expanded maintenance recommendations are provided on oil analyses reports, complete with sample results rankings and wear trend graphs.

To login to WebOAS click here.

Aviation Fuel Certificate

Fuel quality is vital to the safety of an aircraft. AGAT Laboratories offers Aviation Fuel Certification to ensure fuel meets relevant specifications and is free of unapproved additives and other contaminants. This service is routinely done for rush turn-around times and often over weekends and holidays.

Diesel and Gasoline Check

When dealing with large amounts of fuel, it is important to understand the quality of the product being used. This is because fuel is such an important part of industrial plant and fleet operation. For this reason, fuel that may be suspect due to age or storage conditions is recommended to be analyzed regularly, especially considering the consistently rising pump prices.

The Transportation Sector

AGAT Laboratories’ offers many value-added services to enhance the efficiency of business operations, saving you time and money.  We strive to enhance our business relationships with our clients by offering them the following tools to operate at the highest levels of efficiency.

Our value-added services include the following:

• Dedicated Client Project Managers
• Continuous research and development
• Pre-labelled sample containers
• Innovative e-services
• Efficient turn-around time
• Scope of presence
• Extensive technical resources
• Training Programs

Overview

Oil analysis includes testing to monitor the rates of wear, contaminants and additives in used engine oils.

Examples of contaminants include:

• Dirt and Dust
• Water
• Glycol
• Metals
• Fuel

Not only does oil analysis provide insight into the mechanical condition of the component, it also determines the condition of the oil itself. This type of analysis can be used to determine maintenance strategies such as optimizing oil change frequencies, filter quality and efficiency.

Some industries using oil testing include:

• Oil and gas processing facilities
• Marine and Shipping industries
• Agriculture
• Mining and Milling
• National Defence
• Pulp, Paper, Sawmills
• Transportation, Fleet and Rail
• Automotive Manufacturers
• Construction Industries
• Equipment Suppliers
• Aerospace
• Manufacturing

Engine Oil Contamination

The most common engine oil contaminants are silicon (dirt), fuel dilution and antifreeze coolant. Silicon (dirt) contamination is the most common form of contamination and causes serious engine wear due to its abrasive actions against all moving parts within the engine. If the silicon levels surpass 25 ppm, the air intake system should be inspected to locate the source of entry for the dirt and other airborne debris.

Coolant is another very common oil contaminant and probably the most serious. Water from the coolant reduces the lubricant properties causing severe bearing problems, while the glycol degrades at high temperatures and forms into sludge. Monitoring water contamination levels is unreliable, as normal engine temperatures are high enough to evaporate water over time. Keeping detectable levels as low as 0.05 per cent, coolant levels can be detected by chemical analysis and through monitoring the levels of boron, sodium and potassium in the oil.

Spectrochemical Analysis on Wear Metals and Additives

This type of analysis determines the level of wear metals, additives and contaminants in new and used oil. Done on all types of samples, levels of wear metals, additives and contaminants are trended to identify problems.

Wear metal analysis can indicate which engine components are wearing and if the wear is becoming significant. This information can make the difference between minor component inspections and minor repairs or major overhauls.

Wear metal analysis requires more than simply plotting data on a graph. Wear metals can be generated from as many as a dozen different engine parts and locations making it difficult to identify the specific part that is wearing excessively. Our AGAT Laboratories’ representatives can help in suggesting additional testing to pin-point the location of the wear as well as suggest common wear areas on other similar components.

AGAT Laboratories Equipment Reliability specialists can provide at no charge to clients, technical and troubleshooting papers to assist with the resolution of equipment problems.

Viscosity

Viscosity is one of the most important properties of lubricating oil. It is a measurement of the resistance-to-flow of a specific temperature in relation to time and can indicate component and/or lubricant degradation. Normally, a viscosity increase or decrease from one grade to the next is a warning that the oil has reached the end of its useful life.

The two most common temperatures for lubrication oil viscosity are 40 °C and 100 °C. Viscosity is normally evaluated with a kinematic method and reported in centistokes (cSt.). In used oil analysis, the used oil’s viscosity is compared to that of the new oil specification to determine whether excessive thinning or thickening has occurred.

Acid Number/Base Number

Acid Number (AN) is a measurement of the quantity of acidic derivatives that have accumulated during an industrial oils life, such as that of a compressor, gear drive or natural gas engine and is indicative of the remaining useful life of that oil.

Base Number (BN) is a measurement of the reserve alkalinity in diesel or gasoline engine lubricants and is directly related to the detergent/dispersant additive package and its ability to counteract acids, sludge and varnish.

Acid and Base number respectively are excellent indicators of oil serviceability and should be included for all oil analyses when oil quality and service life is critically important, such as when oil drain intervals are being considered or necessary.

Monitoring the increase of AN or the decrease of BN respectively are the standards to apply.

ALWAYS FOLLOW THIS RULE: When the AN doubles or the BN is reduced by half, it is time to drain the oil immediately.

Fuel Check Program

Our Fuel Check Program involves the distillation of gasoline or diesel (ASTM D 86) to determine contamination from other fuels. We have the capability to perform the distillation in several specific methods in order to present a comprehensive explanation of the sample results, leaving nothing to speculation. Used by most bulk fuel carriers, this test should be completed whenever there is any suspicion of problems with fuel.

Other tests including particulates, metal and microbiological contamination can also be conducted alongside this program for an enhanced spectrum of the fuel’s quality.

Fuel Quality Testing

To ensure that fuel is up to industry standards and prevent engine damage, this analysis program determines the quality of sampled fuel and will confirm if fuel is within manufacturers’ specifications and is safe to use. The analysis is presented with a comprehensive explanation of the test results compete with recommendations when applicable.

This analyses should be performed whenever fuel quality comes into question, such as when there is an abnormal amount of smoke, power loss or other serious difficulties in engine operation.

Coolant Analysis

Cooling systems require as much care and attention as any other component of a machine. If a coolant is not chemically correct for the application temperature, the rates of corrosion, erosion, pitting and scale formation will almost double for every 15 degree increase in temperature above 71.1 degree C (160F).

Coolant analysis involves testing to determine the quality and suitability of a coolant for its intended application. Poor quality coolant will significantly corrode more metal surface on liners, coolers, heat exchangers, radiators and other affected components in a given time period.

In monitoring system coolant, costly equipment and cooler failures can be prevented. This sampling should be done twice a year or whenever a problem is suspected. This type of testing can be used by any industry that uses liquid cooling media such as glycol or Dowtherms fluids.

Services

With our comprehensive Used-lubricant Analysis Program, our maintenance professionals can either select from our list of predetermined monitoring packages or can design an analysis package that better suits your needs. These analytical options are meant to ensure that your equipment remains operational and efficient.

Our experts are knowledgeable in all aspects of lubricated equipment. This kind of quality ensures that your used lubricant analysis is the best possible analysis available so your maintenance program is a success.

Available Packages