Extreme Tribology
editTribology is an unfamiliar term for many, but is experienced by all. It is the science of friction, wear and lubrication of contacting surfaces in relative motion. This field is highly interdisciplinary in nature and draws upon several academic areas including: physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering (wikipedia 2019).The term Tribology became widely used following ‘The Jost Report’, published in 1966 (Jost 1966). The report highlighted the huge cost of friction, wear and corrosion to the UK economy.
Extreme Tribology refers to tribological situations under extreme operating conditions. The latter can be related to high loads and/or temperatures, or severe environments such as in space. Also, they may be related to high transitory contact conditions (e.g. wheel/rail interface), or to situations with near-impossible monitoring and maintenance opportunities (e.g. mechanical sub-sea oil pipe repair connectors). In general, extreme conditions can typically be categorized as involving abnormally high or excessive exposure to e.g. cold, heat, pressure, vacuum, voltage, corrosive chemicals, vibration, or dust.[1]
The extreme conditions should include any device or system requiring a lubricant operating under any of the following conditions:[2]
- Beyond the original machinery design specifications.
- Beyond the original machinery ambient parameters.
- Application in an environmentally sensitive location.
- Beyond the original lubricant design specification.
Operation in such extreme conditions is a great challenge for tribologists to develop tribosystems that could meet these extreme requirements. Often, only multifunctional materials fulfill such requirements.[3][4]
But, in fact, more work needs to be done to reveal the physical and chemical nature of these extreme tribological characteristics and to generate reliable data for design.
- ^ Clatterbaugh, G.V., et al. Engineering Systems for Extreme Environments. Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, 2011. 29.
- ^ Pinchuk, D., et al. Tribology and Lubrication in Extreme Environments (Two Case Studies). 2002.
- ^ Friedrich, K., U. Breuer, and L. Plastics Design, Multifunctionality of polymer composites : challenges and new solutions. 2015.
- ^ Abdelbary, A., 1 - Polymer tribology, in Wear of Polymers and Composites, A. Abdelbary, Editor. 2014, Woodhead Publishing: Oxford. p. 1-36.