GREASE TESTING + ANALYSIS
Improve Reliability | Monitor Conditions | Increase Uptime
Bridge the gap When should I test my grease?
Utilizing grease testing and analysis as an additional Grease sampling intervals vary greatly based on
condition monitoring technology can help improve equipment type. Including grease testing with your
the reliability of equipment that cannot easily be normal lubrication testing can help you achieve an
monitored through standard fluid analysis. effective condition monitoring program. Don’t wait
until you suspect contamination or a component
Identify Problems fails to test your grease. It’s important to add grease
testing to your program so you can see the whole
Testing your grease and acting on the maintenance picture at one time, allowing you to monitor your
recommendations can identify and correct the equipment condition and identify issues before
causes of problems in your equipment that could catastrophic failure occurs.
lead to failure.
Valuable Insights How do I take a grease sample?
Grease testing and analysis provides valuable Each grease analysis kit comes with a grease
insight into grease performance and integrity, sampler, syringe and other items necessary to
including: collect your grease sample from your equipment.
The type of sample kit used will depend on the
• Wear application and component. Available kit options
• Consistency include:
• Contamination
• Oxidation properties • Basic Grease Analysis
• Pillow Block Bearing
Why should I do grease testing? • Wind Turbine
Stay on top of mission-critical grease conditions, Baseline Reference Sample
degradation trends and wear rates to: For proper analysis, one baseline reference sample
of new grease is required for every type of grease
sent to the laboratory for analysis. This will allow
us to compare the results of the new grease to the
used grease, to provide a more accurate analysis
and an improved reliability and maintenance
recommendation.
Minimize Unplanned Repairs Decrease Downtime
How does it work with my other testing?
The best way to oversee all components of your
equipment and to achieve optimal condition
monitoring is to couple your standard fluid analysis
testing with grease testing to watch for abnormal
Extend Machine Life conditions that can affect greased components.
polarislabs.com 317.808.3750
What does the test identify? I’m currently doing grease testing.
We conduct a few different laboratory tests How is this new method different?
to analyze properties within grease. Each test
Historically, grease testing has existed in one of two
identifies properties to help target potential
realms – specification tests and limited “in-service”
problems that could cause equipment failure. testing. These versions of standard used oil analysis
methods have been modified to accommodate
Consistency | Die extrusion grease. These test regimes aren’t designed for in-
To measure the grease’s consistency, we compare service grease and they don’t give you a complete
the resistance pressure to a load cell as the grease picture of the condition of the grease or equipment.
is extruded through a die, then compared to an
overlay of the new grease baseline sample. Specification tests like cone penetration and
dropping point tests are often recommended
Oxidation and Contamination | FTIR for individuals who are interested in testing their
To find contaminants and oxidation levels, the used grease. These tests appear on product specification
grease is compared to an overlay of the new grease sheets so they are well known in the industry.
However, while these tests can tell you if the
baseline sample.
grease has changed from its blend specifications,
they don’t give any indication of how the grease
Appearance | Colorimetry testing is performing in the system. They also require a
Changes in appearance can result from large sample volume difficult to extract from most
overheating, aging and contamination. equipment and the testing can be quite expensive.
Contamination | Inductively Coupled Plasma - Traditional oil analysis tests, such as ICP, water or
Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analytical ferrography can be performed on grease
The ICP test is used to evaluate the grease for samples. These are excellent tests for monitoring
wear in the equipment and can give information on
wear metals, additive elements and possible
contamination, but they don’t provide information
contaminants. on the condition of the grease.
Life expectancy | Linear sweep voltammetry In order to get a clear picture of your entire system’s
This test measures antioxidant content which can health that can drive maintenance decisions, we
give an indication of the remaining useful life left on recommend using the grease sampler and tests
the grease as well as assist in determining proper designed specifically for in-service grease.
relubrication cycles.
Wear concentration | FdM+
Determines the amount of hazardous, wear-causing Grease Test Packages
ferromagnetic material that is present in the BASIC ADVANCED*
sample. • FTIR All basic testing plus:
• FdM • Grease consistency
• Water by Crackle • Water by Karl Fischer
• Color • ICP-OES Wear Metals
• Microbiological Contamination
• Ruler
*Advanced testing can be added on a case-by-case
basis, without the need of additional sampling
use of the grease sampler
polarislabs.com 317.808.3750
