Equipment for testing the dispersion of additives in oil according to ASTM D7899

The requirement for on-line machinery and oil condition monitoring is becoming evermore apparent as maintenance costs increase and production capacity and equipment performance are maximized.

One of the primary functions of a lubricant is to preserve the cleanliness of a combustion engine’s mechanical parts. The cleanliness of the mechanical parts is facilitated by “detergency” and “dispersancy” (DD) additives in the engine oil.

particles from wear, corrosion of mechanical parts, and insoluble products resulting from the ageing of the oil, etc. Dispersant additives in oil prevent agglomeration and sludge formation by dispersing contaminants. With proper formulated oil, the soot will remain homogeneously suspended up to high concentration levels. When soot load reaches a critical limit for current condition of the oil, a sudden loss of dispersancy leads to rapid agglomeration and deposition of soot onto machine surfaces. Contaminants like water and/or glycol can quickly knock out dispersancy performance without an increase in soot load. Diesel engine condition monitoring requires increased focus upon measuring both soot concentration and dispersancy performance. Unlike measuring soot concentration where numerous options exist, measuring soot content and dispersancy performance is a real challenge to the oil analyst.

The DT100DL operates according to ASTM D7899. The instrument simultaneously measures soot and dispersancy. The results reported are combining soot content and dispersancy performance.