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Sources of Copper Copper usually appears in fluid samples as a wear metal, most often arising from brass or bronze components. Whether gears, bearing cages, guides, bushings, or piston shoes, brass and bronze parts are alloys of copper lead, tin, and/or zinc. Being an alloy, the wear metals from these parts will remain proportional as…

Sources of Iron Iron is commonly expected to be found in samples as a wear metal, as it is the foundation element in all forms of steel, which is by far the most prevalent material in lubricated machines. It will often correlate with other metals like chromium, titanium, molybdenum, and vanadium; if the correlation remains…

Introduction to Elemental Spectroscopy Elemental spectroscopy measures in-service fluid samples for wear metals, additives, and contaminants. The method used to perform the measurement is properly termed Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and the results are commonly referred to as ICP or spec results. The measurement is performed by diluting a sample with solvent…