ABSTRACT
The paper describes the problem area of the accelerated life testing of mechanical components, in which wear is the main failure mechanism. The complexity of the failure mechanisms in many mechanical components makes it difficult to model the deterioration process and estimate the time to failure from the test results. The solution suggested in this paper is a combination of experiments and detailed component analysis, which provides information about how and why a component fails and how the reliability can be improved.
A case study on a hydraulic gear pump is presented. A brief mechanical description of the pump is given, and results from both long-term tests and trend measurements are presented. In the trend measurements, an on-line particle counter is used in order to measure the instantaneous generation of wear particles.
