Tribology International 34 (2001) 577–579
www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint
Book Review
Applied tribology – bearing design and lubrication
M.M. Khonsari and E.R. Booser, John Wiley and Sons,
Inc., 2001
The number of new, tribology-related books seems to
be on the rise in recent years. Like the tribology hand-
books, some of these books are edited compilations of
chapters by different contributors. Less common are the
so-called tribology textbooks. I use the phrase ‘so-called’
because few of them actually contain features like sam-
ple problem solutions and end-of-chapter exercises that
are normally associated with a college textbook. Applied
Tribology is introduced by the authors as a textbook suit-
able for a one-semester (university) senior-level, elective
engineering course; a graduate-level course; or a refer-
ence book for practicing engineers and machine design-
ers. Admirably, the book more than meets those objec-
tives. Considering the detailed nature of the material
contained within the book’s 496 pages, it is unlikely that
a one-semester course would allow sufficient time to do
it justice.
Applied Tribology is not simply an introduction to tri-
bology with an emphasis on bearing design. It also pro-
vides a wealth of useful reference data, giving some of
its sections more of a handbook flavor. The combination
of instructional text and tables of data is attractive
because it not only introduces the reader to basic con-
cepts, but also provides the data needed to apply them.
One of the co-authors (Booser) is certainly experienced
in handbook development, having edited the well-known
series of three handbooks on lubrication (CRC Press,
Boca Raton, Florida). The advantages of that co-author’s
work, and his access to a great deal of lubricant and
bearing materials data, increases the value and utility of
this book.
Applied Tribology is divided into three parts. Part I,
called ‘General Considerations’, contains a brief dis-
cussion of the history of tribology. While the authors
state that they will provide ‘…a few historical stepping
stones…’, they include only a brief, and in the
reviewer’s view inadequate, mention of the history of
wear research. It consists of a paragraph, barely six lines
long, that mentions JF Archard’s wear equation. Any
new tribology student at least should be told that wear
occurs in different forms, like abrasive wear, sliding
* Tel.: +1-423-574-5377; fax: +1-423-574-6918.
PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 6 7 9 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 7
wear, fretting wear, impact wear, rolling contact fatigue,
erosive wear, etc. While only some of these types of
wear relate to bearings, the main emphasis of the book,
the student should still be made aware of the breadth of
tribology, if only to place the wear of bearings into a
proper perspective. There are plenty of reviews of wear,
and the citation of one or more of them would help round
out this part of the introduction.
The chapters in Part I provide excellent reviews of
lubricant chemistry, additives, types of oils, viscosity
grades, and more. Alignment charts and tables enable
the reader to estimate properties of lubricants for use
in the book’s problem sets, and serve nicely for future
reference. As required for a textbook, Applied Tribology
contains a number of step-by-step illustrations, and
adequately defines new quantities when they are first
introduced. Chapter 3 provides a useful, practical dis-
cussion of the measurement of surface texture, including
relevant symbols used in industry and applicable engin-
eering practice.
Chapter 4 of Part I, concerns bearing materials and
their selection. It begins with a discussion of asperity
contact and a brief description of the origins of dry fric-
tion. Like the introduction, the discussion of ‘Wear’
emphasizes mainly sliding wear and concludes with two
short paragraphs of other forms of wear: one on surface
fatigue and one on abrasive wear. Again, there is no
mention of erosive wear, impact wear, etc. Despite their
association with wear, contact fatigue and bearing life
prediction are not found in the discussion of wear, but
rather are placed in other parts of the book, as in the
section on ‘Load-Life Predictions’ (Chapter 13.8). It
might have been useful to cross-reference this later sec-
tion since it also relates to wear and durability.
The table of representative properties of sliding bear-
ing materials that appears in the early pages of Chapter
4 is useful, but perhaps a little misleading because
classes of materials are grouped together with only one
typical value of each property. For example, only one
set of representative properties is given for ‘steel’ despite
the fact that there are hundreds of steel alloys whose
heat treatment and alloying gives them a wide range of
properties. It might be misleading therefore for design
students to assume that they can choose only one rep-
resentative value from the table for an entire class of
materials, like ‘aluminum’ and ‘cast iron’. Later in the
chapter, however, the discussion of compositions and
properties of certain materials is expanded, and overall
578 Book Review / Tribology International 34 (2001) 577–579
it succeeds in imparting the need for careful attention to
material grades when making selections.
It might also be helpful if mechanical engineering stu-
dents were made more aware that the surface properties
of materials, particularly metals, can change once they
are placed in service and worn-in. Work-hardening dur-
ing sliding, for example, can change the relative hard-
ness of two mating bearing surfaces. While there is men-
tion of solid lubricants and polymer composites, there is
little mention made of hard coatings or surface treat-
ments. The discussion of bearing materials provides
good general guidance; but it does not have the same
depth and richness of detail as the mechanical engineer-
ing-oriented chapters that comprise the bulk of the book.
The student’s need for a good mathematics back-
ground surfaces in Part II of the book, titled ‘Fluid Film
Bearings’. Chapter 5 on the ‘Fundamentals of Viscous
Flow’ not only derives key relationships step-by-step,
but also discusses the principles of common experi-
mental methods used to measure the magnitudes of the
variables contained in these relationships. To understand
these concepts requires some knowledge of partial dif-
ferential equations and a familiarity with special tech-
niques in integration. That approach is better than simply
providing a ‘plug-in equation’, as is common in a num-
ber of other introductory tribology books. If the student
is prepared to spend the extra effort, there is adequate
information in this book to provide the fundamental
basis for understanding the origins of most of the
important equations used in bearing design and analysis.
Chapter 6 contains a nicely-explained derivation of
the Reynolds equation. It is presented in sufficient detail
to enable the modifications for special cases to be under-
stood. Thirteen problems at the end of that chapter test
the student’s grasp of the material. Chapters 6–12 delve
into the intricacies of bearing designs: thrust bearings,
journal bearings, squeeze-film bearings, hydrostatic
bearings, gas bearings, and dry and starved bearings.
Again, there is a nice set of problem-solving illustrations
and case studies. For example, in describing squeeze-
film bearings, there is a table of closed-form solutions
for the load-carrying capacity of various bearing geo-
metries. This is followed by two practical examples: a
piston pin and a human knee joint. Unlike some books
on design theory that manipulate dimensionless quan-
tities whose significance may at times elude the student,
the current authors provide students with a tangible,
physical connection to real components that have finite
physical dimensions and measurable properties.
Part III of the book is devoted to ‘Rolling Element
Bearings’. Sections on nomenclature and codes will be
helpful to those new in the field. Engineering details,
like fits, chamfers, tolerances, and lifetime calculations
are an excellent resource for the aspiring and practicing
engineer alike. As in earlier sections, information is
appropriately presented, clearly explained, and useful
for reference.
While the overall presentation of material throughout
the book follows a logical and appropriate sequence,
Chapter 15 seems to stick out oddly at the conclusion
of Part III. Not only does its title, ‘Friction, Wear, and
Lubrication’, nearly duplicate that of Chapter 1
(‘Tribology – Friction, Wear and Lubrication’), but the
material probably should have been integrated into earl-
ier sections. There is little information presented in
Chapter 15 that requires background information from
having studied the previous 14 chapters. While it con-
tains some useful information, Chapter 15 seems some-
how disconnected from the otherwise orderly structure
of the book.
Appendices on unit conversions and viscosity conver-
sions conclude the book. The subject index is adequately
detailed. It is not clear whether an answer booklet is
available for the end-of-chapter exercises. Availability
of such a guide would encourage faculty who might be
contemplating the book’s use for their classes.
A final comment concerns the choice of units of meas-
ure. The authors note in their Preface that sometimes SI
units are used, sometimes the older English units are
used, and sometimes, dual units of measure are used. It
is argued that the use of different types of units reflects
current practice; however, the decision to use non-metric
units is unfortunate because it continues to perpetuate
the old system. Textbooks for 21st century students
should be forward looking, and the authors’ decision to
include archaic units will probably diminish the book’s
appeal to students and practicing engineers who are
training and working outside of the USA.
Applied Tribology has a great deal to offer mechanical
engineering students and practicing tribologists. It will
be a welcome addition to my own bookshelf. I wish,
however, that a discussion of just a few additional topics
had been included for the sake of completeness. These
largely relate to materials aspects of tribology that
should be communicated better to mechanical engineers
and designers. In addition to offering better coverage of
alternative forms of wear, the inclusion of more infor-
mation on surface treatments, and some recognition of
the wear research that goes beyond the work of Archard,
one additional subject related to bearings seems to have
been largely overlooked. That subject is running-in.
There is no mention of the terms running-in, wear-in, or
break-in in the book’s index. In only one place – a men-
tion of the change in lambda ratio with running time
(Chapter 3) – could I find a mention of such phenomena.
Proper running-in can be important to the longevity of
bearings and when replacing worn parts with new ones.
Consequently, I was disappointed to see so little mention
of it. On the other hand, research and education on run-
ning-in in the US trails that in other parts of the world,
 Book Review / Tribology International 34 (2001) 577–579 579

so the omission of a discussion of that subject, while computational illustrations, exercises, and useful data, all
disappointing, is nevertheless understandable. presented in a format highly suitable for instructional
Despite the few shortcomings mentioned earlier, the purposes and future reference.
reviewer highly recommends acquiring a copy of
Applied Tribology – Bearing Design and Application. P.J. Blau*
The co-authors are to be commended on preparing a Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008,
clear and cogent treatment of practical bearing design Mail Stop 6063
and lubrication. This archival book is one of a rare few Oak Ridge, TN 378310-6063, USA
in our field that offers a well-tuned balance of theory, E-mail address: blaupj@ornl.gov