Wear debris: basic features and machine health diagnostics

Modern high speed and power machinery components like
gears, bearings, pumps, hydraulics and motors normally
suffer from wear phenomena during operation. The study
of wear debris can help estimate the condition of the
surface of a component, so its basic features may be used to
diagnose component health prior to failure. In this paper, a
review is presented of the current literature related to wear
debris and its analysis. The basic features of wear debris
are highlighted, and their possible potential to diagnose
the health of machine components is discussed. The basic
features of wear debris have been classified with respect
to the approach of measurement for component health
diagnostics. In addition, each feature has been detailed
with its possible measurement descriptors, its trend during
machine component operation, and its distinct health
diagnostics capability. Finally, the paper proposes advances
in machine component health diagnostics solution, by
optimising the diagnostic capabilities of basic wear debris
features.