On the ferro-graphic characterisation of wear debris in tribological system by grey fixed weight clustering

Both characterisation of wear debris and identification of wear debris from lubricating oils and greases in the tribological systems were investigated in the present paper. The characterisation system to describe wear debris morphology was erected based on the identification parameters of wear debris in the ferro-graphic system. Four characterisation parameters were analysed, including colour, surface texture, shape and size of wear debris. By using grey fixed weight clustering method, six kinds of wear debris were recognised, i.e., normal wear debris, ball particles, cutting debris, sever sliding debris, debris of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4, which is helpful to pre-diagnose the fault type of machinery.