Abstract
The mechanical equipments which are exposed to impure environment undergo significant reductions in their own lifetimes. Several environmental test procedures have been developed to analyze these phenomena. Moreover in the industry to require shorter development duration, accelerated life testers artificially add test containments into machines. In this research JIS Z 8901 test powder was added into internal gear pumps which are used as oil pumps in vehicles and thus the effects of the addition on the degradation of the pumps were examined. Three kinds of contaminants were selected. Two of the contaminants are identical in particle size but different in the composition of the ingredients. The other pair have identical ingredients and composition but different particle size. The quantity of contaminants was also an interesting factor in this study. The results show that each JIS contaminant caused notable degradation in the discharge flow characteristic of pumps while friction torque degradation did not have any tendency. Finally leakage rates were deduced and equivalent wear volume ratios were calculated.