Wear Particles Analysis

WEAR PARTICLES ANALYSIS 

Sometimes wear debris from a wear test should be characterised.  This is required for debris produced during biomechanical testing for example.  ASTM and ISO standards describe how this should be done.

The test provides information about the wear particles such as particle concentration, frequency, particle size, and shape information.  This is presented as histograms of frequency versus particle size and shape for example.

Particle Analysis can also be used to characterise emission particles, and any other application where the size and shape of particles needs to be known.  This can also have applications in the mining industry where the size and shape range of agglomerates or slurries of ores need to be known as this influences the performance of processing of the ore.

With current research being conducted on ceramic, metallic, polymeric and elastomeric devices, 6° of Freedom has developed custom techniques and protocols to conduct analysis on wear particles (debris) obtained from these devices following biomechanical fatigue testing and biomechanical wear testing. This pioneering work has established 6˚ Degrees of Freedom as an internationally recognised leader in this highly specialised field.

With major device manufacturers now conducting intensive research on both Phagocytosis and Pinocytosis, the accurate analysis and separation of wear particles (debris) has led to 6˚ Degrees of Freedom developing new protocols related to this ongoing research.