Grease lubricants reduce friction between critical moving parts in machinery. Analysis of additives and wear metals is often performed to monitor lubricant and machine health. Traditionally this has been done using ICP, AA, or Rotating Disk Electrode Spectroscopy. There is currently interest in using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) for this analysis as it takes advantage of new grease sample preparation methods and is particle-size independent when compared to abovementioned methods. Several industrial grease samples, prepared in a die extrusion method as a thin-film, were analyzed for contaminants and wear metals. A method was developed using standard 100 and 900 ppm wear metal oils containing 21 and 5 wear elements, respectively. Petroleum jelly was proposed as a suitable blank for grease and was spiked to generate a calibration curve for the subsequent analysis of unknown grease samples. Samples from a local industrial laboratory were then analyzed and compared to standard methods.

X-ray fluorescence analysis of grease samples to determine wear

245th National Meeting (2013)

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