Online Monitoring of the Oil Acidification using a Chemical Sensor Measuring Corrosiveness

Abstract Chemical corrosiveness sensors based on capacitively coupled electrodes were used to determine the corrosiveness of lubricants. Thereby, a sacrificial layer is immersed into the oil and the material loss due to corrosion is monitored by measuring the capacitive coupling between sacrificial layer and readout electrodes. The online applicability of the chemical sensor was investigated by artificial alteration experiments of selected oils in the laboratory. The usefulness of the sensor concept is illustrated by field trials. The results showed that critical amounts of acidification initiated the accelerated corrosion of the sacrificial layer.