A "Last Chance Filter" (LCF) is a fluid clarification device installed immediately upstream of a fluid system component (but downstream of the main system filter) to protect that component from catastrophic failure-causing contaminant particles.

Last Chance Filters are designed to perform a contamination control function different from, but complementary to, main system filters. Simply stated, LCFs remove the large particles from a fluid system which can cause sudden, catastrophic failures in certain components.

As it is neither physically practical nor economically acceptable to install a large system filter in front of each component, a new class of small, high performance, relatively coarse mesh filters has been developed to supplement the main system filter by standing guard directly between the system's fluid source and the component requiring protection from large contaminant particles.