Determination of Wear Metals using the Teledyne Leeman Lab’s Prodigy7 ICP-OES

Wear metals analysis, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometers (ICP-OES), has been an important component of predictive maintenance programs for many years. Used oil-based materials, such as engine oils, transmission oils, and engine coolants, are regularly monitored for the presence of particles deposited from the components that they are designed to protect. This technique can be used to accurately identify and predict component failure, based on the composition of the metals and the speed at which they accumulate overtime. This application note demonstrates the ability of the Teledyne Leeman Lab’s Prodigy7 ICP to determine a range of elements, both wear and additive, in used oil samples.