SELECTIVE RADIOACTIVE TRACERS FOR ENGINE WEAR DIAGNOSIS AND FILTER EVALUATION
A method for monitoring the wear of engine parts without engine dismantling is described. The radioactivity method, trademarked as SPI-WEAR, consists of two parts: gamma ray detector readout instrument; and charged particle irradiation of the wearing component. In a test study to determine if the method was suitable for monitoring internal engine wear, a cylindrical volume of each measured part was made slightly radioactive by bombarding the part with an accelerometer-produced alpha particle beam. Depth of the irradiated spot was controlled by the accelerator beam's energy. Radioactive regions were monitored with a sodium iodide crystal detector. Since gamma rays from parts penetrated surrounding materials, the detector was mounted outside the engine near the wearing part. As active material wore away, the count rate in the detector dropped accordingly. The amount of wear was related to the amount of emitted radiation by a calibration curve. Results demonstrated that the SPI-WEAR method was accurate, reliable, convenient, and safe in measuring engine part wear. The insertion of both oil and air filters reduced corresponding bearing and piston ring wear rates when compared to similar tests with no filters. Significant piston ring wear occurred as a result of dust adds to the lube oil system when no filter was present. A small amount of bearing wear occurred as a result of dust adds to air intake with no filters present. Heaviest wear occurred on the bearing closest to the dust entry point. Piston ring wear for 0-5 micrometer size range dust appeared to be much higher than wear caused by 0-40 micrometer size range dust. There was only a rough correspondence between wear measured radioactively and wear metal levels measured spectrometrically.
-
Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
-
Supplemental Notes:
- Presented at SAE International Fuels and Lubricants Meeting, Toronto, 13-16 November 1978.
-
Corporate Authors:
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
400 Commonwealth Drive
Warrendale, PA United States 15096 -
Authors:
- Jones, G W
- Armini, A J
- Schoen, N C
- Publication Date: 1978
Media Info
- Features: References;
- Pagination: 11 p.
-
Serial:
- SAE Technical Paper
- Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
- ISSN: 0148-7191
- EISSN: 2688-3627
- Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Accuracy; Dust filters; Engines; Measurement; Oil filters; Piston rings; Radioactivity; Reliability; Tracers (Chemistry); Wear
- Old TRIS Terms: Tracers
- Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00399228
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 780972, HS-025 914U
- Files: HSL, USDOT
- Created Date: Oct 31 1985 12:00AM