Demulsibility is the ability of oil to separate from water. Oil and water naturally separate because like molecules attract each other. Oil sticks with oil, water sticks with water. Oil is "hydrophobic", or "afraid of water," which is a benefit when it comes to fluids like turbine oil.
All hydraulic and lube systems have a critical contamination tolerance level that is often defined by, but not limited to, the most sensitive system component such as servo valves or high speed journal bearings. Defining the ISO fluid cleanliness code upper limit is a function of component sensitivity, safety, system criticality and ultimately getting the most our of hydraulic and lube assets.
Improving fluid cleanliness means reduced downtime, more reliable equipment, longer fluid life, and fewer maintenance hours. In addition, it also means reduced component replacement and repair expenses.
The ISO Cleanliness Code (per ISO4406-1999) is used to quantify particulate contamination levels per milliliter of fluid at 3 sizes - 4µ, 6µ, and 14µ. It is expressed in 3 numbers (example 19/17/14) where each number represents a contaminant level code for the correlating particle size. The code includes all particles of the specified size and larger.
It is important to note that each time a code increases, the quantity range of particles is doubling. Inversely, as a code decreases by one the contaminant level is cut in half.
Oil can be high maintenance. It’s not something you just dump in your system and forget about. You have to monitor it, manage it and oversee it. Just letting oil cycle through your system without routinely testing it is a sure ticket to equipment damage.
