Lecture #1.

INTRODUCTION. Defining of tribology. Tribology in industry

(maintenance).
Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It
includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear.
Tribology is a branch of mechanical engineering and materials science.

1. Etymology
The word tribology derives from the Greek root τριβ- of the verb τρίβω, tribo, "I rub" in
classic Greek; and the suffix -logy from -λογία, -logia "study of", "knowledge of".
It was coined by the British physicist David Tabor,[1] and also by Peter Jost in 1964, a
lubrication expert who noticed the problems with increasing friction on machines, and
started the new discipline of tribology.[2]

2. Fundamentals
The tribological interactions of a solid surface's exposed face with interfacing materials
and environment may result in loss of material from the surface. The process leading to
loss of material is known as "wear". Major types of wear include abrasion, friction
(adhesion and cohesion), erosion, and corrosion. Wear can be minimized by modifying
the surface properties of solids by one or more of "surface engineering" processes (also
called surface finishing) or by use of lubricants (for frictional or adhesive wear).
Methodologies to minimize wear include systematic approaches to diagnose the wear
and to prescribe appropriate solutions. Important methods include:

 Point like contact theory was established by Heinrich Hertz in 1880s.

 Fluid lubrication dynamics was established by Arnold Johannes Sommerfeld in
1900s.
 Terotechnology, where multidisciplinary engineering and management
techniques are used to protect equipment and machinery from degradation (Peter
Jost, 1972)
 Horst Czichos's systems approach, where appropriate material is selected by
checking properties against tribological requirements under operating environment
(H. Czichos,1978)
 Asset Management by Material Prognosis - a concept similar to terotechnology
which has been introduced by the US Military (DARPA) for upkeep of equipment in
good health and start-ready condition for 24 hours. Good health monitoring systems
combined with appropriate remedies at maintenance and repair stages have led to
improved performance, reliability and extended life cycle of the assets, such as
advanced military hardware and civil aircraft.
In recent years, micro- and nanotribology have been gaining ground. Frictional
interactions in microscopically small components are becoming increasingly important
for the development of new products in electronics, life sciences, chemistry, sensors
and by extension for all modern technology.
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2.1. Friction regimes
Friction regimes for sliding lubricated surfaces have been broadly categorized into:
1. Solid/boundary friction
2. Mixed friction
3. Fluid friction
on the basis of the “Stribeck curve”. These curves clearly show the minimum value of
friction as the demarcation between full fluid-film lubrication and some solid asperity
interactions.

Stribeck curve (Abscissa: Speed,

Ordinate: Friction)
1. Solid/boundary friction
A typical Stribeck curve obtained by
2. Mixed friction
Martens
3. Fluid friction

Stribeck and others systematically studied the variation of friction between two liquid
lubricated surfaces as a function of a dimensionless lubrication parameter ηN/P, where
η is the dynamic viscosity, N the speed (e.g. revolutions per minute of a bearing) and P
the load projected on to the geometrical surface.[3]
The “Stribeck-curve” has been a classic teaching element in tribology classes.[4]

3. History
Duncan Dowson surveyed the history of tribology in his book "History of Tribology (2nd
edition)".[5] This comprehensive book covers developments from prehistory, through
early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt) and finally the key developments up to the end
of the twentieth century.
Historically, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was the first to enunciate two laws
of friction[6] (it was this connection that gave the name to the Leonardo Centre for
Tribology, one of the UK's leading research centres on the subject). According to da
Vinci, the frictional resistance was the same for two different objects of the same
weight but making contacts over different widths and lengths. He also observed that
the force needed to overcome friction doubles when the weight doubles. da Vinci's
findings remained unpublished in his notebooks.[7][8]
Guillaume Amontons rediscovered the classic rules (1699). They were further developed
by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb(1785).

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Charles Hatchett (1760–1820) carried out the first reliable test on frictional wear using
a simple reciprocating machine to evaluate wear on gold coins. He found that compared
to self-mated coins, coins with grits between them wore at a faster rate.

Tribological experiments suggested by Leonardo da Vinci

3.1. Stibeck curve
The "Stribeck curve" or "Stribeck–Hersey curve" (named after Richard Stribeck,[9][10]
[11]
 who heavily documented and established examples of it, and Mayo D. Hersey[12][13]),
which is used to categorize the friction properties between two surfaces, was developed
in the first half of the 20th century. The research of Professor Richard Stribeck (1861–
1950) was performed in Berlin at the Royal Prussian Technical Testing Institute (MPA,
now BAM). Similar work was previously performed around 1885 by Prof. Adolf Martens
(1850–1914) at the same Institute and in the mid-1870s by Dr. Robert H. Thurston [14]
[15]
 at the Stevens Institute of Technologyin the U.S. Prof. Dr. Thurston was therefore
close to establishing the “Stribeck curve”, but he presented no “Stribeck”-like graphs, as
he evidently did not fully believe in the relevance of this dependency. Since that time
the “Stribeck-curve” has been a classic teaching element in tribology classes.[4]
The graphs of friction force reported by Stribeck stem from a carefully conducted, wide-
ranging series of experiments on journal bearings. Stribeck systematically studied the
variation of friction between two liquid lubricated surfaces.[3] His results were presented
on 5 December 1901 during a public session of the railway society and published on 6
September 1902. They clearly showed the minimum value of friction as the demarcation
between full fluid-film lubrication and some solid asperity interactions. Stribeck studied
different bearing materials and aspect ratios D/L from 1:1 to 1:2. The maximum sliding
speed was 4 m/s and the geometrical contact pressure was limited to 5 MPa. (These
operating conditions were related to railway wagon journal bearings.)
The reason why the form of the friction curve for liquid lubricated surfaces was later
attributed to Stribeck, although both Thurston and Martens achieved their results
considerably earlier, (Martens even in the same organization roughly 15 years before),
may be because Stribeck published in the most important technical journal in Germany
at that time, Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI, Journal of German
Mechanical Engineers). Martens published his results “only” in the official journal of
the Royal Prussian Technical Testing Institute, which has now become BAM. The VDI
journal, as one of the most important journals for engineers, provided wide access to
these data and later colleagues rationalized the results into the three classical friction
regimes. Thurston however, did not have the experimental means to record a
continuous graph of the coefficient of friction but only measured the friction at discrete
points; this may be the reason why the minimum in the coefficient of friction was not
discovered by him. Instead, Thurston's data did not indicate such a pronounced
minimum of friction for a liquid lubricated journal bearing as was demonstrated by the
graphs of Martens and Stribeck.

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3.2. Jost Report
The term tribology became widely used following The Jost Report in 1966. The report
said that friction, wear and corrosion were costing the UK huge sums of money every
year. As a result, the UK set up several national centres for tribology. Since then the
term has diffused into the international engineering field, with many specialists now
claiming to be tribologists.
There are now numerous national and international societies, such as the Society for
Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) in the USA, the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers' Tribology Group (IMechE Tribology Group) in the UK or the German Society
for Tribology (Gesellschaft für Tribologie, www.gft-ev.de) and MYTRIBOS[16] (Malaysian
Tribology society).
Most technical universities have researchers working on tribology, often as part
of mechanical engineering departments. The limitations in tribological interactions are,
however, no longer mainly determined by mechanical designs, but by material
limitations. So the discipline of tribology now counts at least as many materials
engineers, physicists and chemists as it does mechanical engineers.

3.3. New areas of tribology

Since the 1990s, new areas of tribology have emerged, including
the nanotribology, biotribology, and green tribology. These interdisciplinary areas study
the friction, wear and lubrication at the nanoscale (including the Atomic force
microscopy and micro/nanoelectromechanical systems, MEMS/NEMS), in biomedical
applications (e.g., human joint prosthetics, dental materials), and ecological aspects of
friction, lubrication and wear (tribology of clean energy sources, green
lubricants,biomimetic tribology).
4. Applications
The study of tribology is commonly applied in bearing design but extends into almost all
other aspects of modern technology, even to such unlikely areas as hair
conditioners and cosmetics such as lipstick, powders and lipgloss.
Any product where one material slides or rubs over another is affected by complex
tribological interactions, whether lubricated like hip implants and other artificial
prostheses, or unlubricated as in high temperature sliding wear in which conventional
lubricants cannot be used but in which the formation of compacted oxide layer
glazes have been observed to protect against wear.
Tribology plays an important role in manufacturing. In metal-forming operations,
friction increases tool wear and the power required to work a piece. This results in
increased costs due to more frequent tool replacement, loss of tolerance as tool
dimensions shift, and greater forces required to shape a piece. The use of lubricants
which minimize direct surface contact reduces tool wear and power requirements.

References

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1.  Field, J. (2008). "David Tabor. 23 October 1913 -- 26 November
2005".Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 54: 425–
459.doi:10.1098/rsbm.2007.0031.
2.  Mitchell, Luke (November 2012). Ward, Jacob, ed. "The Fiction of
Nonfriction".Popular Science. No. 5 281 (November 2012): 40.
3. R. Stribeck, Die wesentlichen Eigenschaften der Gleit- und Rollenlager (The basic
properties of sliding and rolling bearings), Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher
Ingenieure, 2002, Nr. 36, Band 46, p. 1341-1348, p. 1432-1438 and 1463-1470
4. H. Czichos, K.-H. Habig, Tribologie-Handbuch (Tribology handbook), Vieweg
Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2nd edition, 2003, ISBN 3-528-16354-2
5. Duncan Dowson, History of Tribology, Second Edition, Professional Engineering
Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-86058-070-X
6. Palaci, Ismaël (2007), Atomic Force Microscopy Studies of Nanotribology and
Nanomechanics. p. 52.
7. Armstrong-Hélouvry, Brian (1991). Control of machines with friction. USA:
Springer. p. 10. ISBN 0-7923-9133-0.
8. van Beek, Anton. "History of Science Friction". tribology-abc.com. Retrieved2011-
03-24.
9. Stribeck, R. (1901), Kugellager für beliebige Belastungen (Ball Bearings for any
Stress), Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure 45.
10. Stribeck, R. (1902), Die wesentlichen Eigenschaften der Gleit- und Rollenlager
(Characteristics of Plain and Roller Bearings), Zeit. des VDI 46.
11. Jacobson, Bo (2003), The Stribeck memorial lecture.
12. Hersey, M. D. (1914), The Laws of Lubrication of Horizontal Journal Bearings, J.
Wash. Acad. Sci., 4, 542-552.
13. Biography of Mayo D. Hersey
14. Robert H. Thurston, Friction and lubrication - Determination of the laws and co-
ëfficients of friction by new methods and with new apparatus, Trübner and Co.,
Ludgate Hill, London, 1879
15. Robert H. Thurston, A treatise on friction and lost work in machinery and
millwork, John Wiley&Sons, New York, 1894, fifth edition
16. http://www.mytribos.org