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TECHNICAL PRESENTATION
AUDIENCE
Service, service support and administrative staff personnel who understand the principles of engine
operation, and who are or may be involved in determining root causes of failures.
CONTENT
This presentation discusses seven types of wear --abrasion, adhesion, corrosion, erosion, cavitation
erosion, contact stress fatigue, fretting corrosion -- that the failure analyst may commonly encounter.
OBJECTIVES
After learning the information in this presentation, the student will be able to:
1. list the road signs that identify each of the seven types of wear;
2. describe the environmental conditions that must exist for each of the seven types of wear to occur;
3. identify and distinguish among the seven types of wear on used parts;
4. and, given an identified type of wear on a used part, describe where to obtain additional information
needed in the failure analysis process.
REFERENCES
Principles of Wear Applied Failure Analysis Reference Book SEBV0554
Principles of Wear Applied Failure Analysis Self-Paced Instruction CD-ROM SEGV8515
PREREQUISITES
AFA STMG 013 Failure Analysis Management SERV8013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................5
ABRASIVE WEAR..............................................................................................................13
ADHESIVE WEAR..............................................................................................................17
EROSION .............................................................................................................................21
CAVITATION EROSION.....................................................................................................24
CORROSION .......................................................................................................................35
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................56
SLIDE LIST..........................................................................................................................59
INSTRUCTOR NOTES
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INTRODUCTION
Principles of wear This presentation covers types of wear and the conditions that cause them.
Specific environments cause specific types of wear. If a failure analyst
- Environment causes
specific type of wear can identify the type of wear that is present, the analyst will be able to
look for specific environmental conditions.
- Road signs identify This presentation will also cover the "footprints" or "road signs" of seven
type of wear
common types of wear. These road signs allow the analyst to recognize
specific wear types found in field problems.
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Know your customer Failure analysis is much easier if the analyst is familiar with customers
and their equipment before problems occur. The analyst needs to know
- Equipment,
not only what equipment customers have, but also how they are applying,
application,
operation, operating and maintaining it.
maintenance
Too often customers are not meeting their application, operation, and
- Customer maintenance responsibilities (perhaps as a result of not having the
responsibilities maintenance and operation guides).
- Meeting with
By meeting with each customer, listing equipment, helping acquire
customers necessary guides, and answering questions, the analyst can insure that the
customer understands his responsibilities. The analyst will also be better
prepared to analyze problems and more quickly find root causes.
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Wear analysis Caterpillar parts are designed to wear gradually as they give good service.
They are generally judged reusable as long as wear is within published
- Parts are desi
limits. Occasionally, abnormal wear occurs and the failure analyst is
to wear
asked to find the cause. Following an established procedure for wear
- Abnormal wear failure analysis helps increase the analysts efficiency in finding the root
requires analysis cause.
- Established
procedure helps
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The analyst should refer to the eight steps of applied failure analysis when
analyzing wear. The eight steps can help the analyst save time and avoid
mistakes.
System facts Many times abnormal wear is a result of hostile lubrication, hydraulic,
cooling, fuel or inlet air system conditions. The analyst needs to gather
and record both qualitative and quantitative facts about additives,
conditioners, fluid types, pressures, temperatures, etc.
Lubricant quality and Quality and quantity facts about the lubrication system are especially
important because the lubrication system cools as well as lubricates.
For instance, asking "Was there any oil in the pan?" will generate a "yes"
or "no" answer, giving neither quality nor quantity information. Better
questions would be "What was the oil level on the dipstick?", or "How
much oil was in the pan?", or "What type of oil was used?", or "What did
the SOS report show?".
Identify and record The analyst should identify and record facts about the location of wear,
the type of wear, and the load that produced the wear as the parts are
examined.
For instance, off center wear can indicate misaligned or bent parts, later
wear can occur on top of earlier wear, and fretting indicates surface
movement. Using magnification in inspection of worn surfaces can help
the analyst recognize physical wear facts.
Seven common wear While there are many types of wear, the following seven account for a
majority of field failures:
1. Abrasive wear
2. Adhesive wear
3. Corrosion
4. Erosion
5. Cavitation erosion
7. Fretting
Each wear type has its own characteristic appearance and is caused by a
specific environment. Thus, recognizing a specific wear type will help
the analyst identify the environment that caused the wear.
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ABRASIVE WEAR
Soft surfaces are cut, leaving deep scratches and producing secondary
debris. Hard surfaces do not cut as easily, but more heat is generated as
hard debris rubs against a hard surface.
With good lubrication supply, generated heat is removed and there is little
heat build up on the surfaces.
10
Particles can come Abrasive particles can include steel shavings, core sand, aluminum chips,
paint, dirt or other foreign material.
If the particles are large, they were likely left in the product during
manufacture, maintenance, or repair. Smaller abrasive particles can enter
the product during operation or through careless maintenance.
While abrasive wear is easy to identify, what the analyst really seeks is
the cause of the wear -- "What are the debris particles and where did they
come from?" In abrasive wear analysis identification of the wear particles
themselves is very important, which often leads to their source and to the
responsible party.
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11
3600 rod bearing The soft surface of this 3600 series connecting rod bearing not only has
heavy scratching and embedded hard particles, but also has much
embedded secondary debris.
The main bearing upstream from this bearing was undamaged. Therefore,
the debris had to be either left in the crankshaft drilled passageway or left
on the bearing during assembly.
The analyst should remove some embedded hard particles and record
facts about them such as size, shape, magnetic properties and color.
These facts are often sufficient to identify the source of the particles or to
guide the analyst to new fact gathering areas.
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Particles do not Wear particles do not embed easily in hard wear surfaces, but can produce
abrasive scratching. This is fine abrasive scratching on a top ring.
The analyst must consider questions such as "What does the ring look like
now?", "What did it look like originally?", "How much wear has
occurred?", "How long has the ring been in service?", and "Did the
foreign material enter through the air inlet system or some other way?"
If the same damage is seen on other top rings, the analyst would suspect
contamination of the air inlet system and look for dirt entry indicators.
13
ADHESIVE WEAR
Adhesive wear Adhesive wear is the fastest progressing wear. In adhesive wear two
moving surfaces make contact without adequate lubrication and/or
cooling. This moving contact produces heat through friction, elevates
surface temperatures to the melting point, and the surfaces adhere
together.
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14
Smearing is first sign The first sign of adhesive wear is polishing or smearing of the weaker
surface. When smearing occurs, melting temperatures have been reached
at the surface. However, due to heat conduction temperatures drop
rapidly below the surface, confining melting to surface layers.
If several parts show adhesive smearing, the analyst should look for
additional system facts. In this way parts record facts and guide the
analyst to problem areas.
This set of bearings ran five minutes with no oil pressure, producing
permanent smearing damage.
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15
Metal pulls from As adhesive wear progresses surface metal seizes and welds to the
adjacent surface, removing metal from the weaker surface.
This piston skirt adhered to the liner and pieces of the hot, weakened skirt
have been torn away. Because there is no seizure in the ring area, the
analyst concludes that this wear started at the skirt.
The analyst should look at the other pistons and gather facts about system
conditions that could have caused high skirt temperatures. If the other
pistons are normal, the analyst should gather facts about lubrication and
cooling of the damaged piston itself.
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Adhesive wear Continued operation during adhesive wear causes the part to reach
melting temperature, lose strength, and pull apart.
17
EROSION
Erosion Erosion occurs when small hard particles in fast moving fluids hit
surrounding surfaces at high speeds and cause fine impact and abrasive
damage. The worn surface often has a shot peened or matte appearance.
Erosive wear occurs in all engine product systems. Filters and filter
change intervals are designed to control erosive wear (and abrasive wear)
within acceptable limits. When customers use competitive filters,
Caterpillar debris control can be lost and erosive or abrasive wear can
occur at unacceptable rates.
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18
Broken retainer If parts break or become loose within a product, rapid erosive wear can
begin. In this example, a piston pin retainer broke and the loose pieces
severely eroded the piston pin bore.
The erosion is worse at the top of the bore than at the bottom. This is a
reflection of the piston loading and movement against the broken retainer;
that is, downward piston movement is more sudden and violent than
upward piston movement.
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19
Erosion from broken This erosive wear was caused by a broken piston ring.
Again, the damage is worse above the ring land than below it, because of
piston load and movement.
The analyst should next investigate possible causes for ring breakage.
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20
CAVITATION EROSION
Cavitation erosion Cavitation erosion occurs when vapor bubbles collapse against metal
surfaces.
All liquids contain dissolved gases which form bubbles in low pressure
areas, and abnormal system conditions can introduce additional vapor
bubbles.
When these bubbles enter high pressure areas, they implode (burst
inward) sending a fluid "jet" against the metal surface at supersonic
speeds.
Fine cracks sometimes form and join until small metal particles are
removed leaving pits.
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Bubbles form in fluid bbles can form under the following conditions:
- When parts move within a fluid creating low pressure areas (such as
liner vibration)
- When static system pressures are low (bad radiator cap, high altitude
operation)
The analyst needs to keep these conditions in mind during the search for
the root cause of cavitation erosion problems.
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21
Liner damaged by This rough pitted liner surface is the result of cavitation erosion. The
damage is confined to one area of the liner. Disassembly facts reveal the
damaged area was located between liners.
The analyst should ask "How many conditions that cause cavitation
erosion are involved in this liner damage?", and gather facts accordingly.
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22
Cavitation erosion on Cavitation erosion is sometimes seen on used engine bearings. The
rotation of the crankshaft and the gas loading on the rod and main
bearings cause low and high pressure areas to occur. The low pressure
areas cause vapor bubbles to form while the high pressure areas cause the
bubbles to collapse. Where bubbles collapse, the surface of the metal is
stressed and fine cracks can develop, join together, and form pits.
23
Bubbles form on the low pressure (suction) side and collapse violently on
the high pressure (discharge) side.
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24
Contact stress fatigue Contact stress fatigue occurs when two surfaces slide or roll against each
other, developing high stress, surface movement, and fatigue cracks in
one or both surfaces. These high stresses can develop if:
Surface movement can occur if applied stresses are too high, or if the part
itself is too weak and cannot withstand normal stresses. Continued cyclic
movement of the surface beyond design limits leads to crack development
and surface pitting and spalling called contact stress fatigue.
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26
Loading in direction of If sliding contact is made, loading is in the direction of sliding, creating a
cyclic "push-pull" surface movement.
If the movement is too great, fine surface cracks begin and grow until
pitting occurs.
The pitted surface creates higher stresses, causing even heavier surface
pitting. The material removed from the pits can enter lubrication systems
and cause secondary abrasive wear.
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27
Camshaft damaged by Sliding movement caused this camshaft contact stress fatigue damage.
Possible root causes that might have produced this damage include too
much load, misalignment of wearing surfaces, wrong oil quality (type or
viscosity), wrong oil quantity, or weak parts.
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28
Loading perpendicular If rolling contact is made, loading is perpendicular to the surface, causing
cyclic flexing of the harder surface against the softer core.
The cracks join together and progress upward to the surface, allowing big
pieces of surface material to break, creating spalling.
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29
Tapered roller bearing Rolling movement caused this bearing contact stress fatigue damage.
The most probable cause of this damage is that the bearing was loose
during operation, causing misalignment of wearing surfaces, producing
high stress and wear on the same end of each roller.
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CORROSION
The process of changing back to the more stable oxidized state is called
corrosion.
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Metal surfaces can have numerous anodic and cathodic areas due to
impurities or imperfections in the grain structure.
This action continues until the anode areas are destroyed or until the
electrolyte is removed.
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32
33
General corrosion General corrosion occurs when electrolyte is present on the metal.
Here, droplets of water were the electrolyte and have been allowed to stay
on the surface of this connecting rod. Under each drop of water the
surface has corroded (rusted).
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34
Corrosion produces Observation with magnification shows that pits have already developed.
Surface oxides can be removed but the metal surface cannot be restored to
original, undamaged condition. Pitting can be especially harmful in
highly loaded areas of parts.
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Acid increases Electrolyte activity can be increased through the presence of acids. The
lower portion of this valve stem has been severely pitted when the sulfuric
acid level in the electrolyte was increased.
The analyst should obtain facts about conditions that would permit excess
acids to be present, such as wrong fuel, wrong oil, extended oil change
intervals, or low coolant temperatures.
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36
Galvanic corrosion Some metals are more active than others, and if used together in the
presence of an electrolyte will begin corrosion of the more active metal
(anode). This is called galvanic corrosion.
A list of metals from most active to least active is called a galvanic series.
This is the galvanic series for metals in sea water electrolyte.
If an aluminum part is bolted to a cast iron case, and both are in contact
with sea water, the aluminum part will become the anode and will
corrode.
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37
Oil cooler tube Acid in the oil has accelerated corrosion pitting of the copper oil cooler
tube beneath a steel baffle. This tube was located in a low flow section of
the cooler.
38
Turbocharger heat At high temperatures atoms of a metal move more rapidly, allowing
oxygen atoms to mix more deeply and combine more easily with them.
39
4. Alloy metals
40
Sacrificial anode When using sacrificial anodes, the new metal and the old metal must be in
contact with the electrolyte. As corrosion occurs, the new metal is
removed and must be periodically replaced.
This zinc sacrificial anode protects a steel plate immersed in sea water.
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41
FRETTING CORROSION
Fretting corrosion Fretting corrosion occurs when two parts that should fit tightly are
allowed to move slightly against each other, leading to micowelding of
small surface irregularities. Continued movement causes small pieces to
pull loose from each surface. These small pieces corrode and form
reddish-brown oxides.
42
Rod bolt damaged by This rod bolt shows typical fretting corrosion damage, with both pitting
and reddish-brown oxide deposit.
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43
Loose fasteners Loose fasteners not only allowed this rod cap to move against the rod, but
also failed to properly crush the bearing, letting it move in the bore.
The most severe damage was done to the rod and cap in this example.
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Material removal from Inspection of the rod with magnification shows the results of asperity
flash welding and material removal.
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Inspect mating parts The analyst should always inspect mating surfaces when fretting
corrosion is found to get a complete picture of the damage and to insure
that there is no oxide build-up present at any location.
46
Bearing bore pitted by If fretting corrosion pitting occurs in heavily loaded areas such as this
bearing bore, the part should be discarded or reconditioned before reuse.
Pits are stress raisers Reusing damaged parts may lead to fractures. Deep pits produced by
fretting corrosion have caused fracture in the highest loaded area of this
main bearing cap.
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48
Rod bolt damaged by This rod bolt has been damaged by fretting corrosion and is pitted in a
highly loaded area. Reusing a bolt in this condition can lead to a major
failure.
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49
Rod bolt damaged by This rod bolt was reused with fretting corrosion damage, fractured a few
hours after rebuild and completely destroyed an engine.
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Pits are stress raisers Several pits are visible, but the pit at the yellow arrow is the stress raiser
that caused the bolt to break under normal loads.
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51
CONCLUSION
Wear failure analysis As the analyst obtains facts and thinks logically with those facts, a good
understanding of wear types and appearance will make recognition of
problem areas and possible root causes quicker.
After these things are done, the analyst is ready to identify the root cause
of the failure.
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52
Get the payoff! After logically and systematically determining the most probable root
cause, the analyst needs to "Get the Payoff!" by contacting the customer
immediately, helping him understand the failure and who is responsible,
and reviewing possible repair options.
The dealer then needs to make professional repairs as agreed with the
customer. Within a few days after repair, the dealer should call the
customer to insure the problem is solved.
53
SLIDE LIST
1. Wear title slide 30. Corrosion
2. Know Your Customer 31. Electrochemical Activity
3. Wear Failure Analysis Principles 32. Corrosion Types
4. Eight Steps of Applied Failure Analysis 33. Connecting rod with corrosion
5. Obtain System Facts 34. Close-up of connecting rod with corrosion
6. Obtain Lubricant Facts 35. Exhaust valve stem with corrosion
7. Obtain Wear Facts 36. Galvanic Series in Seawater
8. Seven Common Wear Types 37. Oil cooler tube with general and galvanic
9. Abrasive Wear corrosion
10. Photo of particles 38. Turbocharger heat shield with high
11. 3600 rod bearing with abrasive wear temperature corrosion
12. Piston ring with abrasive wear 39. Corrosion Protection
13. Adhesive Wear 40. Sacrificial Anode
14. Rod bearings with adhesive wear 41. Fretting Corrosion
15. Piston with adhesive wear 42. Connecting rod bolt with fretting corrosion
16. Piston with adhesive wear #2 43. Connecting rod and cap
17. Erosion 44. Close-up of connecting rod parting face with
18. Piston with pin bore erosion fretting corrosion
19. Piston with erosion in ring land 45. Close-up of rod cap parting face with
20. Cavitation Erosion fretting corrosion
21. Cylinder liner with cavitation erosion 46. Bearing bore with fretting corrosion
22. Engine bearing with cavitation erosion 47. Fractured bearing cap with fretting corrosion
23. Aluminum housing with cavitation erosion 48. Connecting rod bolt with fretting corrosion
24. Close-up of aluminum housing with 49. Fractured connecting rod bolt
cavitation erosion 50. Close-up of connecting rod bolt fracture face
25. Contact Stress Fatigue with fretting corrosion pitting at initiation
26. Sliding 51. Identify the Root Cause of Failure
27. Camshaft with sliding contact stress fatigue 52. Get the Payoff!
28. Rolling 53. Wear title slide
29. Roller bearing with rolling contact stress
fatigue
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10
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Analyzing Wear
1. Abrasive Wear
What you see
a. Scratched, cut, gouged or grooved surface
b. Surface temperature cool
c. Self-generated debris
What it means
a. Abrasive Wear (most common wear type)
What you do next
a. Identify the primary wear particles
b. Determine the source of abrasive wear
2. Adhesive Wear
What you see
a. Surface temperature hot, heat discoloration
b. Surfaces melt and stick together
c. Material torn from weaker surface is welded to stronger
surface, often causing secondary abrasive wear
What it means
a. Adhesive Wear (fastest progressing wear type)
b. Surfaces made frictional contact
What you do next
a. Find out why surfaces made contact -- high load, thin oil,
insufficient oil quantity, etc.
3. Corrosion
What you see
a. Rusting, scaling or crystalline deposits
b. Pitting
c. Irregular shaped holes, ragged surfaces
What it means
a. Corrosive Wear (chemical or electrochemical attack)
What you do next
a. Identify the corrosive environment
4. Erosive Wear
What you see
a. Removal of surface material
b. Surface denting and pitting from impacting particles
c. Self-generated, secondary debris
What it means
a. Erosive Wear
What you do next
a. Identify the erosive particles
b. Determine the source of the particles
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Analyzing Wear
5. Cavitation Erosion
7. Fretting Corrosion
What you see
a. Microwelding and metal pullout
b. Reddish brown oxide
c. Black oxides on tin or lead-tin layers
What it means
a. Fretting Corrosion
b. Surfaces held tightly together and forced to move, vibrate
or oscillate slightly against each other at high speed
What you do next
a. Determine the load that causes the tight surfaces to move
b. Check joint clamping forces
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INSTRUCTOR NOTES
SESV8015 Printed in U.S.A.
8/2000