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| Research Focus & Application: |
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Clean parts for production are becoming a very important factor in the automotive industry. As tolerances become smaller and wear becomes more of an issue the need to minimize particles and to better understand their size (typ. 2 to 100s of microns) and morphology. With this in mind the automotive industry key components are rinsed with a defined amount of fluid and the dirt particles washed off. The cleaning fluid is then passed through a round filter membrane. The washed-off particles are caught by the filter and can then be analyzed under the microscope. The goal is to get a repreŽsentative distribution of the number of particles in a given particle class (i.e., particles with similar characteristics/size that fall statistically in the same general category). Usually, the technician checks this result against the maximum number of particles allowed in that particular class of particles. If the inspection shows too many particles of a particular class, then the manufacturer must find out where the particles came from to avoid future contamination.
Some of the related standards are:
VDA 19 (German) and ISO 16232 (international counterpart)
Road vehicles Cleanliness of components of fluid circuits
ISO 4406
Hydraulic fluid power Fluids Method for coding the level of contamination by solid particles
NAS 1638
Cleanliness requirements of parts used in Hydraulic Systems AeroŽspace Industries associationNational aerospace standard
| Microscopy and Imaging Methods: |
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AxioImager M1m with motorized autofocus and motorized large scanning stage with AxioCam MRm with high dynamic range and EC Epiplan Neofluar 5x in Brightfield reflected light.
| Why the instrument was selected for this application: |
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Image quality and resolution for particle detection and speed of sample scan. | |
Image 1m Filter: Residual particles on filter membrane.Mosaic image consisting of over 200 single images
Microscope: Axio Imager
Objective: EC Epiplan Neofluar 5x/0.13
Camera: AxioCam MRm
Image 2 Filter: Residual particles on filter membrane. Single image from mosaic.
Microscope: Axio Imager
Objective: EC Epiplan Neofluar 5x/0.13
Camera: AxioCam MRm |