Can standard oil analysis detect large particles generated from wear?

Standard oil analysis primarily focuses on identifying contamination and wear metals within the lubricant. It typically involves the use of spectrometric techniques, which can detect small particles and dissolved metals that are within a certain size range, usually particles that are less than 10 microns in size.

Larger particles generated from wear, however, tend to settle at the bottom of a lubricant reservoir or are removed through filtration systems before they are accessible in significant concentrations to be analyzed via standard oil analysis. Because of the limitations in the methodology and the focus on wear particles that are small enough to remain suspended in the oil, standard oil analysis is not effective in detecting the larger particles produced from wear processes.

While there may be specific circumstances where certain techniques or additional tests can identify larger particles, standard oil analysis as a general practice is not designed to capture that information effectively, leading to the conclusion that it cannot reliably detect large particles generated from wear.