INTRODUCTION-:

Tribology is defined as the science and technology surfaces in relative motion,

having its origin in the Geek word tribos meaning rubbing. It is a study of the
friction , lubrication, and wear of engineering surfaces with a view to
understanding surface interactions in detail and then prescribing improvements in
given applications.
The work of the tribologist is truly interdisciplinary, embodying physics,
chemistry, mechanics, thermodynamics, and materials science, and encompassing
a large, complex, and intertwined area of machine design reliability, and
performance where relative motion between surfaces is involved.
It is estimated that approximately one-third of the world’s energy resources in
present use appear as friction in one form or another. This represents a staggering
loss of potential power for today’s mechanized society. The purpose of research in
tribology is understandably the minimization and elimination of unnecessary
waste at all levels of technology where the rubbing of surfaces is involved.
Indeed, sliding and rolling surfaces represent the key to much of the effectiveness
of our technological society.
According to a report by the Committee on Tribology in Great Britain in 1965,
approximately £500 million is lost annually in worn parts within must move
IDUSTRIAL IMPRTANCE-:
Tribology is vital to modern machinery involving sliding and rolling surfaces.
Brakes, clutches, bolts , nuts, driving wheels on automobiles, etc., use friction
in a productive manner. Wear is also used in a productive manner in many
cases, such as writing with a pencil, polishing, machining and shaving.
Unproductive friction and wear take place in engines , gears, cams , bearings
and seals. It has been estimated that approximately one-third of the world's
energy resources, in present use, appear as friction in one form or the other.
Friction and wear usually cost money in the form of energy loss and material
loss; can decrease national productivity; can affect national security and quality
of life. Wear can also cause accidents. Thus, the knowledge of tribology can
lead to various substantial and significant savings without deployment of large
capital investment. Research in tribology leads to increased plant efficiency,
fewer breakdowns, better performance and above all, significant savings.
 TRIBOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN MANUFACTURNING-:

Tribological classification Manufacturing processes Related industry

Metal-on-metal Forging Reaming Wire manufacture

(rigid-rigid) Stamping Guillotining Iron and steel manufacture
surface pairing Grinding Drawing Metal Processing
Milling Extrusion Tool design
Lapping Forming
Spinning Swaging Mechanical Components
Machine design
Plastic-on-metal Injection and blow moulding Tyre manufacture
(flexible-rigid) Cold working Extrusion Plastics industry
surface pairing Thermo forming Drawing Building and construction
Vacuum forming Coating Electrical insulation
Laminating Shoe manufacture
Flooring materials
Solid lubricants
Fibre-on-fibre Spinning Weaving,etc. Textile industry
(flexible-flexible) Carding Plastics
pairing Hosiery and knitwear
SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY-:
ENGINEERING surfaces are far from smooth when under a microscope. We observe
that they consist of a multitude of apparently random peaks and valleys. The most
important parameter which determines frictional behavior is surface texture. Before
considering actual surface interactions, it is therefore advisable to examine in some
detail the texture and friction can be considered inseparable in the sense that they
represent cause and effect respectively in particular applications. For purposes of
clarity and simplicity, the word asperity will be used in this text to identify individual
texture elements, whereas the term macro-roughness will apply to combination of such
elements.
 MACROSCOPIC TEXTURE MEASURMENTS-:
Method of measurement Parameter measured Details

Vertical motion of stylus

amplified and recorded as stylus is
1. Stylus motion Profile obtained directly
dragged at uniform speed over
surface.
Perpendicular, taper and parallel
sections cut through surface,
2.Cross- sectional cuts Profile obtained indirectly
taking care to avoid edge
crumbling.
Map of surface obtained by super
3.Cartography Profile obtained indirectly imposing series of parallel
sections.
Known volume of sand or grease
is spread over surface and
4.Void filling Mean texture depth
levelled: area covered gives gross
measure of texture depth.
Asperity-density prints obtained
by uniformly pressing a sheet of
5. Surface prints Mean void spacing paper on to surface precoated with
dye, and counting number of
The macroscopic methods can be broadly classified in two groups,
depending on whether the entire profile of a surface or part of it is required
in a specific example. The two chief methods of representing and measuring
the entire profile are profilometry and cartography, whereas when part of
the complete profile only is required, it is common to refer either to the
mean void width between asperities or details of asperity sharpness.
 CARTOGRAPHY

1. a series of parallel cuts which intersect the profile and define

contoured areas of the texture,
2. each planar cut being located at a particular distance below a
reference plane drawn to just touch the peak of the tallest asperity

3. The cross-sectional areas of texture intersected by each planar cut are

then plotted in the form of a contour map
5. We observe that it is not at all necessary t o develop a two-dimensional profile of the texture
in order to obtain the contour plot. Indeed, a profile representation in Fig. 1 is given only to
illustrate the method used in contouring rather than a prerequisite.
6. The contour plot has the distinct advantage of representing a three-dimensional image in two
dimensions, and this cannot, of course, be achieved with the profiles shown in Fir 1

7. In practice, the contour plot can be obtained by first making a three-dimensional negative of
the surface in question, usually by pressing a mastic compound such as Araldite( 4) on to it.
When the compound has set and is removed from the original surface, a second different
compound is pressed on to the first and allowed to set in this position.
8. Subsequent machining of the combination produces the cross-sectional cuts
shown in Fig. 1

9. The method of parallel cuts is exceedingly tedious, and one oblique cut is
sometimes used as a substitute

10. The length of cut is necessarily much greater to produce the same
resolution, and interpretation of the resulting contour is obviously more
difficult. These considerations must be balanced against the savings in
preparation and machining time.
GENERAL FRICTION THEORY
 FRICTION
INRODUCTION-:
Friction is defined as the force of resistance to motion that occurs when a solid body
moves tangentially with respect to the surface of another body touches. The friction
force acts in a direction opposite to that of motion. Even when attempt is made to
initiate the motion , the friction force exists. The friction force required to initiate
the sliding is called the static friction force and that required to maintain sliding is
called the kinetic friction force, the value of which is usually lower than the former
for the same combination of material and other parameters. The importance of
friction may be classified into four categories: (a) the provision of sufficiently large
friction as in walking , gripping objects, driving cars , etc., (b) the reduction of
friction in case of machinery, (c) maintaining friction constant within narrow limits
as in metal rolling industries, precision devices , etc., and (d) Providing necessary
conditions for friction-caused oscillations as in stringed musical instruments.
Experimental observation on friction over the centuries has led to the formulation of
three entirely empirical laws of sliding friction. Theses may be stated as:
(a) The force of friction is proportional to the normal load between the two bodies in
contact.
(a) The force of friction is independent of the apparent area of contact between
the two bodies.
(b) The force of friction is independent of the sliding speed.
 The first two are often called Amontons laws, after the French engineer
Guillaume Amontons who presented them first in 1699 and the third is
called after Coulomb who proposed it in 1785. These laws do provide
useful information though they are not obeyed in many cases without
violating any physical principles. The first law may be expressed as
 F=μW
 Where F is the force of friction and W the normal load. Here μ is the
constant of proportionality, Which is known as coefficient of friction. It is
independent of the normal load as evident from the equation . Most
materials obey the law well, expect polymers and some others. The second
law is obeyed to a great extent and the third has a smaller range of
applicability. The coefficient of friction is written as μs , μk , μr ,dependent on
whether the body is in a static condition , in sliding motion or in rolling
motion.
 The prediction of the coefficient of friction of a particular pair of materials
under a given set of operating conditions is a very difficult task. No
theoretical method exists for the same. The safest approach one can adopt
is the measure the friction experimentally with conditions as near as the
operating conditions possible.

 MEASURMENT METHODS
 The basic principle of any friction-measuring instrument is to place two
specimens together under a specified normal load and in relative motion
while the tangential force resisting motion is measured. Many methods of
varying specimen geometry, loading condition and resisting force
measurement are available. Different researches use many ingenious set-
ups to investigate different specific cases.
 Inclined Plane Rig
 The simplest arrangement is the inclined plane test . A specimen is
placed on a flat plane whose inclination with the horizontal is gradually
increased until the specimen on it starts sliding. If the inclination at this
moment be θ, then μs = tan θ. Obviously, this method is incapable of
evaluating friction in continuous sliding.
 Pin-on-disk Rig
 In continuous sliding cases, the rig based on pin-on-disk configuration is
used. The pin is held stationery under a normal load while the disk is made
to rotate. The loading can be provided by simple dead weight or by spring
loading or hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. The friction force is measured
with the help of calibrated tangential movement of a capacitive or inductive
transducer mounted on the stationary specimen. For a multiple-pass
arrangement, the pin is held at a constant radial distance from the centre of
the disk , but in single-pass arrangement is moved radically during the
experiment. Other slandered arrangement such as pin-on-cylinder, crossed
cylinders, reciprocating arrangement .
 General Friction Theory
Some of the general friction theories which have been proposed to explain the nature of dry
friction are summarized below:

(a) Mechanical Interlocking

Amontons and de la Hire in 1699 proposed that metallic friction can be attributed to the
mechanical interlocking of surface roughness elements. This mechanism gives an
explanation for the existence of a static coefficient of friction , and it also explains dynamic
friction as the force required to lift the asperities of the upper surface over those of the lower
one.

(b) Molecular Attraction

Tomlinson in 1929 and Hardy in 1936 attributed friction forces to energy dissipation when
the atoms of one material are “ Plucked” out of the attraction range of their counter parts on
the mating surface. Later work attributed adhesional friction to a molecular kinetic bond
rapture process in which energy is dissipated by the stretch, break and relaxation cycle of
surface and subsurface molecules.
 (c) Electrostatic Forces
According to this theory presented as recently as 1961, stick-slip
phenomena between rubbing metal surfaces can be explained by the
initiation of a net flow of electrons, which produces clusters of charges
of opposite polarity at the interface. These charges are assumed to hold
the surfaces together by electrostatic attraction.

(d) Welding, Shearing, and Ploughing

This most recent theory proposed by Bowden in 1950 is now widely

accepted for metal friction. High pressures developed at individual
contact spots cause local welding, and the junctions thus formed are
sheared subsequently by relative sliding of the surfaces. Ploughing by
the asperities of the harder surface through the matrix of the softer
material contributes the deformation component of friction, as shown
later.
 WELDING SHEARING AND PLOUGHING THEORY
1. When the two metal surfaces are brought into contact under load, local welding
occurs at the tips of the major asperities of the surfaces as described earlier until the
total area matches the applied load W.

If a side force F is now applied to the upper surface as shown in Fig it is clear
that relative sliding between the surfaces will occur only if the welded junctions
are sheared.
This shearing action gives rise to the adhesion component of friction.
Assuming that the total area of shear is given by A and the average shear strength
of the junctions is s we may write
F adhesion = As 3.17

Figure 3.5 shows, however, that when the shearing of the welds at C and D has
taken place, the surfaces are not entirely free to slide relative to one another. If the
upper surface is made of harder material than the lower surface, it will plough or
groove a path through the softer metal as indicated at the point Β in the figure.
This grooving effect gives rise to the deformation term in metal friction thus :
F deformation =F ploughing 3.18
F = As +F pioughing 3.19
In most cases, the ploughing term is insignificant, and eqn. (3.17) can then be
viewed as contributing the entire resistance F to motion. If we now divide both
sides of eqn. (3.17) by W, we obtain an expression for the coefficient of sliding
friction / :
f=F/W = As/Ap* = slp\ (3.20)
where W has been replaced by the right-hand side of eqn. (3.14). The relationship
in eqn. {3.20) defines the simple theory of adhesion for metals.( 1)
 There is no reason to suppose at this stage that the area of shear in the
numerator of eqn. (3.20) differs from the area of plastic flow in the
denominator, and hence both are designated by A.
 We note that if metals do not work harden appreciably, the shear stress s
of the interface is approximately equal to the critical shear stress r of the
metal. The flow or yield pressure p* is found to be about 5τ*, and so eqn.
(3.20)
 g i v e s / = 0.2.
 In practice, most metals in air give / = 1.0.
 This sizeable discrepancy can be explained largely by two phenomena
not accounted for in the simple theory. These are junction growth and work
hardening.
 FRICTION OF METALS-:
The coefficient of friction of a particular material depends on the mating material, surface
roughness and operating conditions. Thus usefulness of coefficient of friction values from any
published literature lies more in their relative magnitudes than in their absolute values.
Typical Values of μs and μk of Unlubricated Metals and Alloys
μs μk
Material Self-mated On mild steel Self-mated On mild steel
Au, Pt 2 - 1-1.5 0.4-0.5
Ag 0.8-1 0.5 0.8-1.2 0.3-0.5
In, Pb, Sn 1 1.2-2 0.8-2 0.5-0.8
Al 0.8-1.2 0.5 0.8-1.2 0.5-0.6
Cr 0.4 0.5 0.5-0.6 0.4-0.5
Cu 0.7-1.4 0.8 0.8-1.2 0.6-0.7
Fe 0.5-0.8 0.5-0.8 0.8-1.5 0.8-1.5
Mg,Mo 0.5 0.4 0.5-0.6 0.4-0.6
Ni - - 0.7-0.9 0.6-0.9
Lead-based
When metal surfaces are cleaned in high vacuum and placed in contact , strong adhesion is
observed and consequently high friction is exhibited, typically 2 to 10 or even more fir the value
of coefficient of friction. Strong metallic bonds form across the interface and when the surfaces
are pulled apart, metal gets transferred from one body to other. Gross seizure frequently occurs
and sliding friction under ultra-high vacuum conditions occurs in space applications. With no
interfacial contamination, the extent of junction growth is limited only by the ductility of the
material. Gold is ductile and forms no oxide film in the air. Thus a considerable amount of
junction growth in gold contact leads to high frictional vale for gold
Most metals oxidize typically in the air forming oxide film between 1 and 10 mm thick within a
few minutes exposure of an atomically clean surface. Those films play a crucial role in friction
characteristics. Fig shows the effect of an oxide film in reducing friction can be destroyed, if the
film is penetrated during sliding with the application of increased normal load. At low-normal
loads, the oxide films separate the two metals and the coefficient of friction is low because the
oxide has low-shear strength and its low-ductility limits junction growth. At higher loads, the
surface films deform and metallic contact occurs leading to high coefficient of friction. For some
very soft and ductile metals like tin and indium, metallic contact between the surfaces occurs
even at light loads and consequently coefficient of friction is high without any marked change
with load. For chromium, a thin but very strong oxide film is formed and no metallic contact
occurs over a wide range of load leading to a low- constant friction coefficient . In general , the
coefficient of friction for alloys tends to be lower than that o9f its pure elements. Binary alloys of
Co and Cr with more than 10% Cr show excellent resistance to oxidation and corrosion. To
improve friction and wear properties, tungsten and molybdenum are added . Lead-based white
metals, brass, bronze and gray cast-iron exhibit low coefficient of friction because this contain
phases that form films of low-shear strength . In grey cast-iron , a low-shear strength film is
The friction coefficient of metals and alloys is affected by a number of operating parameters. As
sated earlier, surface cleanliness plays a vital role in modifying friction behavior . Apart from
this , sliding velocity, contact pressure, temperature, relative humidity and gaseous environment
affect friction behavior to a great extent. High sliding velocities or high-contact pressures result
in surface frictional heating which, in turn , results in the formation of a thin molten layer at
asperity contacts in case of low melting points metals. This leads to reduction in shear strength
and drop in friction coefficient .
Solid –state phase transformation also influences friction. Fig. shows the variation of the
friction of cobalt with temperature. Cobalt exhibits a phase transformation at 417ºC from a
hexagonal close-packed structure with limited slip ductility to a cubic-packed structure, which
is fully ductile. This phase transformation results in peak in friction at about 500ºC . Drop in
friction above 550ºC may be attributed to an increase in oxide thickness and also to a change in
oxide thickness and also to a change in oxide species from CoO to Co 3O4.
FRICTION OF NON-METALLIC MATERIALS-:
Ceramics-:
Ceramics combine low density with excellent mechanical properties (e.g., high strength,
stiffness, hardness) up to high temperatures. Engineering ceramics include silicon
nitride(Si3N4), silicon carbide (Sic), alumina(Al 2O3) and zirconia(ZrO2) . Ceramics pairs
are commonly used in extreme environmental applications , such as high loads , high
speeds, high temperatures and corrosive environments . The mechanical behavior of
ceramics differs from that of metals due to different nature of inter-atomic forces-
covalent or ionic bonding in ceramics compared to metallic bonding in metals . Because
of different nature of bonds , ceramics show limited plastic flow at room temperature and
correspondingly much less ductility than metals. Although adhesive forces are present
between ceramic pairs, low –real area of contact leads to relatively low friction in
comparison to metallic pairs in presence of oxide films.
Polymers-:
Polymers include plastics and elastomers. The coefficient of the friction of polymers ranges
between 0.15 and 0.6, in general, with the only exception of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
which has typically a very low coefficient of friction 0.05. Thus polymers exhibit, in general ,
low friction in comparison to metals and ceramics , but very compliant with low elastic modulus
values, typically one-tenth of metals even less. Commonly used plastics are PTFE, high – density
polyethylene (HDPE) , ployphenylene sulfide (PPS), pluamide (Nylon), polyimide, acetal ,etc.
Commonly used elastomers include natural and synthetic rubber, styrene butadiene rubber
(SBR), silicon rubber and butadiene acrylonitrile rubber. These polymers belong to the category
of self- lubricating solids. They flow readily at moderate pressures and temperatures .Since
polymers lack in rigidity and strength, polymers composites are used to provide a combination of
mechanical strength with low friction and wear. Carbon, graphite and glass are commonly used
as fillers in polymers composites.
Solid Lubricants-:
Solid materials that exhibit very low friction and moderately low wear while sliding in the
absence of any supply of lubricants are used as solid lubricants. Examples include graphite (an
allotrope of carbon) and molybdenum disulphide(MoS2). In case of both graphite and MoS2, the
bonding between the layers is considerably weaker. Thus both materials are strongly
anisotropic in their mechanical and physical properties. They are much less resistant to shear
deformation in basal plane than in other directions . The friction behavior is associated with
their lamellar structures.
WEAR-:
INTRODUCTION
The removal of material from one or both of two solid surfaces in relative motion
(sliding, rolling, or impact) is termed as wear. Surface damage due to material
displacement with no net change in volume or weight is called wear.
TYPES OF WEAR-:
Wear takes place either by a mechanical process or by a chemical process or by combination
of both and is generally accelerated by thermal processes (frictional heating). In different
literatures, wear is classified into a number of categories based on the mechanism and
severity of material removal. However, it can be broadly classified into four main forms:
(a) Adhesive wear
(b) Abrasive wear
(c) Corrosive wear
(d) Fatigue wear
ADHESIVE WEAR-:
Adhesive wear takes place, when two nominally flat solid surfaces are in sliding contact. At
the interface asperities, contact and bonding take place due to adhesion. These contacts get
sheared during sliding, resulting in detachment of a fragment from one surface and its
attachment to the other surface or formation of loose wear particles. Some get fractured by
fatigue process during repeated loading and unloading process resulting in the formation of
loose wear particles.
Based on experimental data, the amount of wear is usually proportional to the applied load W
and the sliding distance x and inversely proportional to the hardness H of the surface being
worn away. Thus the volume of wear v is given as

v = k Wx/H
Where k is a non-dimensional wear coefficient dependent on the material pair and their surface
cleanliness.
 TYPICAL VALUES OF WEAR COEFFICIENT (k)

Metal on metal (k x 10-6)

Condition Non-metal on me
Like Unlike (k x 10-6)

Unlubricated 1500 15-500 1.5

Poor lubricated 300 3-100 1.5
Average lubrication 30 0.3-10 0.3
Excellent lubrication 1 0.03-0.3 0.03
ABRASIVE WEAR-:
The term ‘abrasive wear’ includes two types of wear situation, known as two-body abrasion,
respectively. In both the cases , a soft surface is ploughed by a relatively hard material. In two-
body abrasion a rough hard surface slides against a relatively soft mating surface. In three –body
abrasion rough hard particles trapped between the two sliding surfaces cause one or both of them
to undergo abrasive wear. Examples of two-body abrasion are grinding, cutting and machining
whereas those of three-body abrasion are free abrasive lapping and polishing. In many cases , the
wear mechanism at the start is adhesive, which generates wear particles that get sandwiched at
the interface , resulting in three-body abrasive wear. In most situations scratching is seen as a
series of grooves parallel to the direction of sliding (ploughing).
The volume of the displaced material; may be expressed in terms of load as

ν =( 2W / π H ) κ tanθ
CORROSIVE WEAR
Corrosive (or chemical) wear takes place when sliding occurs in a corrosive environment.
Corrosive wear in the air is generally called oxidative wear as the most dominant corrosive
medium in the air is oxygen. The corrosive products (oxides) form a micrometer thick film on
the surfaces and sliding action wear it away. In absences of sliding , the film tends to arrest the
corrosion. Thus corrosive wear requires both corrosion (chemical reaction) and rubbing (sliding
action). The oxide film sometimes prevents metal-metal contact and thus mitigates against the
severe adhesion-enhanced wear, which would otherwise occur. Corrosive wear is important in
many industries such as mining, mineral processing, chemical processing, slurry handling.
Oxides of most metals have volumes significantly different from of their parent metals. So oxide
formation causes the development of stresses in the oxide, which increases with film thickness.
At some critical film thickness the oxide film can fail either by blistering or by cracking.
Blistering takes place when he stress within the film exceeds the strength of the adhesive bond
between oxide and substrate . Cracking occurs when the oxide fails in tension. The critical film
thickness thus depends on the metal/oxide volume ratio , on the adhesive bond between the oxide
and substance and on the strength of the oxide.
Archard(1980) has given a simple qualitative development of corrosive wear theory , which
shows that the rate of wear (volume of water per unit sliding distance) can be described again by
an equation of the form
ν= KW / H
Where the wear coefficient K= K3λ/2α, K3 is the proportion of events, which produces a wear
particles, λ is the critical film thickness at which the film becomes unstable and 2α is the width of
an asperity contact. The values of K3 and λ are dependent on various thermal, mechanical and
chemical variables.
FATIGUE WEAR
Surface and sub-surface fatigue are observed during repeated sliding and rolling, respectively.
Sometimes these are termed as microscopic and macroscopic fatigue wear. The repeated loading
and unloading cycles induce the formation of substance or surface cracks, which after a critical
number of cycles, result in the formation of large fragments from the surface and leave large pits
in the surface, known as pitting . Prior to this final break-up, negligible wear takes place. In this
respect , fatigue wear differs markedly from adhesive or abrasive wear where gradual formation
of wear particles occurs from the beginning of running. Thus , the amount of material removed
by fatigue wear is not crucial, but what is more relevant is the useful life, in terms of numbers of
cycles of operation before fatigue failure occurs.
Rolling contact-:
Adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms depend on direct solid-solid contact and these
cannot operate if a lubricating film separates the moving surfaces. In well-lubricated rolling
element bearings, there is no progressive visible wear due to adhesion or abrasion but
bearing life is limited by fatigue. Although no direct contact occurs , the mating surfaces
experience large stresses transmitted through the lubricating film during the rolling motion.
In the presence of such stresses the maximum compressive stress occurs at the surface but
the maximum shear stress, the position of first yield, occurs at some distance below the
surface.
If the stress amplitude is above the fatigue limit of the bearing material, fatigue failure will
eventually occur. And this almost invariably the case under the high contact pressures used in
rolling element bearings.
Sliding contact
For sliding contact, wear takes place mainly by adhesion and abrasion. However, asperities can
make contact without adhering or abrading and can undergo plastic deformation continues,
cracks may nucleate at and under the surface. With subsequent loading and deformation, cracks
extend and propagate, finally resulting in wear fragment formation at a critical number of
contacts. In sliding contact, the maximum shear stress occurs at the surface, which may lead to
surface fatigue . Many rolling contacts are frequently accompanied by sliding and the friction
stresses due to sliding cause the maximum shear stresses to be nearer the surface and failure
occurs by near surface fatigue. Such fatigue often occur in hypoid gear teeth, cam roller
followers, and wheel-rail contacts and in rolling bearings.