Wear Rate Prognosis Through Particle Size Distribution

Diagnosis of wear regime can be made by examination of the wear particles in terms of the number or weight fraction in each size range. Consideration of the alternatives lends to the conclusion that a Weibull plot by weight (Rosin-Rammler) is the most useful. Application of this diagnosis to simplified wear rate equations can result in more meaningful prognosis of life expectancy. The relations to the more familiar SOAP, Ferrograph and chip detector methods are explored.