ASTM D7214 Standard Test Method for Determination of the Oxidation of Used Lubricants by FT-IR Using Peak Area Increase Calculation
4. Summary of Test Method
4.1 FT-IR spectra of the fresh oil and of the used oil are recorded in a transmission cell of known pathlength. Both spectra are converted to absorbance and then subtracted. Using this resulting differential spectrum, a baseline is set under the peak corresponding to the carbonyl region around 1650 cm(-1) and 1820 cm(-1) and the area created by this baseline and the carbonyl peak is calculated. The area of the carbonyl region is divided by the cell pathlength in millimetres and this result is reported as Peak Area Increase (PAI).

5. Significance and Use
5.1 The PAI is representative of the quantity of all the compounds containing a carbonyl function that have formed by the oxidation of the lubricant (aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, anhydrides, etc.). The PAI gives representative information on the chemical degradation of the lubricant which has been caused by oxidation.

5.2 This test method was developed for transmission oils and is used in the CEC L-48-A-00 test (Oxidation Stability of Lubricating Oils Used in Automotive Transmissions by Artificial Aging) as a parameter for the end of test evaluation.

6. Interferences
6.1 Some specific cases (very viscous oil, use of ester as base stock, high soot content) may require a dilution of the sample and a specific area calculation, which are described in 14.1-14.3. In those cases, the result is corrected by a dilution factor, which is applied to the sample.