Module 1 : Introduction

Introduction to Tribology

What is Tribology ?

• Tribology is derived from the Greek word “Tribos”. Meaning of Tribos is Rubbing.

• Tribology is a science that deals with friction, lubrication and wear in all contacting pairs.

• Tribological knowledge helps to improve service life, safety and reliability of interacting
machine components; and yields substantial economic benefits.

Few Examples requiring tribological knowledge :

Let us consider few failed machine components, failure of which could had been avoided using
tribological knowledge.

Example 1 : Seal

As shown in Fig. 1.1 carbon graphite seal is employed to avoid leakage of steam from rotary
joints of paper industry. Failure of this component occurs due to adhesive wear. Adhesive wear
causes uneven surface that leads to reduction in mechanical contact area. For same imposed
load, reduction in mechanical contacts, increases the level of stress and hence chances of failure.

Fig. 1.1: Carbon graphite seal.

Example 2: Cam

Example 2 is related pitting wear on the cam surface(as shown in Fig. 1.2). Cams are used to
transmit rotary motion in reciprocating motion. These components are subjected to jerks in
sliding distance, which leads to form some pits on the cam surface. Creation of pits on cam
surface increases noise pollution and reduces mechanical performance. Understanding the
mechanism of pit formation helps to estimate the life of component and find methods to reduce
such pitting failures.
 Fig. 1.2: Pitting of cam surface.

Example 3: Journal Bearings

The following figures(Fig. 1.3(a) and Fig. 1.3(b)) are examples of two journal bearing. Left hand
side is photograph of centrally grooved engine journal bearing. It appears that bearing is worn
out due to foreign particles. Right hand side is a photograph of an aluminum bearing subjected
to heavy load, which causes shaft surface to run over bearing inner surface. In these examples
of journal bearing, wear increases the clearance between shaft and bearing and leads to
reduction in load support capacity of the bearing. Often such failures occur in absence of
sufficient lubricant hydrodynamic film thickness due to relatively low speed. Learning tribology
cultivates an understanding that at low speeds, the main purpose of oil is the lubrication and
high viscosity oil will be preferred to low viscosity oil, while at high speeds the major purpose of
oil is to act as a coolant and low viscosity lubricants are preferred to carry away frictional heat
of operation. Here lubrication is a secondary consideration.

Fig. 1.3(a): Abrasive wear and Fig. 1.3(b): Rubbing wear

Example 4: Magnetic Bearing

Magnetic bearings are known as non-contact levitation. In the figure given below(Fig. 1.4) a
repulsive type permanent magnetic bearing is shown. Due to improper design and external noise
factors, bearing failed within three hours of operation at relative speed of 115 rpm.
 Fig. 1.4: Wear scar due to edge loading

Example 5: Multi-row Roller Bearing

Cracking of outer ring is shown in Fig. 1.5. Here cracking means deep cracks which breaks outer
ring in number of pieces. Such failure occurs due to faulty manufacturing and wrong assembly
of roller bearing. Tribological relations help estimating increase in contact stresses due to
misalignment of shaft and improper mounting of bearing surfaces. Hence an approximation on
reduction in service life can be estimated.

Fig. 1.5: Failure of large size roller bearing

Example 6: Gear

A pit on the surface of gear tooth is shown in Fig. 1.6. The pit generally occurs due to excessive
contact stress. Understanding the effect of contact stress helps in developing an equation for
estimation of perspective gear life.
 Fig. 1.6(a): Gear teeth removed from gear.

Fig. 1.6(b): Pits on gear teeth.

Studies of fluid film bearings, rolling element bearings, seals, gears, cams, and brakes are some
of the applications in which tribology is required.

Basic knowledge gained by Tribology course is very useful for industries related to power, steel,
cement, oil etc. Practicing such knowledge in problems ranging from house hold appliances to
large size ships earns great economic benefits. Therefore tribology course is often named as :
“Industrial Tribology”, “Applied Tribology”.

Module 1 : Introduction
History of Tribology

Details of the history of tribology are given by : Dowson[1]. Few notable points are :-

• September 1964 -- Conference on Lubrication in Iron and Steel Works in Cardiff (UK).
Realization of considerable losses due to lack of knowledge related friction and wear of machine
components.

• After this realization UK Minister of State for science formed a committee to investigate the
education, research and the need of industry related to lubrication.

• Committee after deliberations concluded that only lubrication engineering could not provide
complete solution to deal with friction and wear of machine components. An interdisciplinary
approach embracing solid and fluid mechanics, chemistry, and material science is essential. Since
there was no word for such new concept, a new name “Tribology” was coined in 1966.

• After 1966, the word “Tribology” has been used for :

1. Basic mechanisms governing interfacial behavior.

2. Basic theories quantifying interfacial mechanisms.
3. Solutions to friction and wear problems.

• Major breakthrough in tribological science came in 1981 with development of “Scanning

tunneling microscope”(STM)[2] and systematic theory based on “Contact mechanics”. Such
developments provided tools to predict and estimate the behaviour of a single asperity contact.

• Subsequent development of Atomic Force Microscope(AFM)[2] in 1985 allowed measurement

(surface topography, friction force) of all engineering surfaces. Atomic Force Microscope can be
used for studies of adhesion, scratching, wear, lubrication, surface temperatures and
measurements of elastic/plastic mechanical properties.

• The developments of tip-based microscopes (STM & AFM) and computational techniques for
simulating tip-surface interactions and interfacial properties, have allowed systematic
investigations for interfacial problems. Modifying and manipulating surface microstructure
provide a bridge between science and engineering.

Need of Tribology as subject :

• Friction, wear and lubrication have been taught in many science and engineering classes at a
rudimentary level. It means empirically derived trends (friction force is proportional to loading
force, static friction is greater than kinetic friction, viscous friction in a fluid is proportional to the
normal contact force, etc.) are often used as the only predictive tools available. These
approaches have the drawbacks of being predictive only over a limited range of parameters.
Since the under-laying physical mechanisms are not well understood, often one does not even
know which are the important parameters or over what range the observed trends are valid. This
poor predictive power has led the field of tribology being perceived in many scientific quarters.

• Most tribological phenomenon are inherently complicated and interconnected, making it

necessary to understand the concepts of TRIBOLOGY in details.

• Integration of knowledge from multifaceted disciplines(solid mechanics, fluid mechanics,

material science, chemistry etc) is essential and therefore a seprate subject is required.

• Solid Mechanics: Focus is on expressions of contact stresses/deformations and surface

temperatures due to rolling/sliding.

• Fluid Mechanics: Study of lubricant film formed between various geometric shapes of
rolling/sliding surfaces.

• Material Science: Focus is on atomic and micro scales mechanisms whereby solid surface
degradation or alteration occurs during relative motion.

• Chemistry: Deals with reactivity between lubricants and solid surfaces.

• Thermodynamics: Heat and mass transfer in fluids and bounding solids.

Fig. 1.7 : Solid mechanics.

 Fig. 1.8 : Material science and chemistry.

Fig. 1.9: Fluid mechanics.

Solid Mechanics :

• Solid mechanics governs the response of solid material to applied force as shown in Fig. 1.7..

• Based on storage of energy and loss modulus, the materials may be categorize in Elastic,
Viscoelastic and Plastic materials. Hertzian contact pressure theory is applied to estimate elastic
deformation.

• Surface roughness and real area of contact between surfaces play very important role.

• Behavior modeling of thin layer coatings having different elastic properties than the substrate
is involved the layer may have different slip and traction boundary conditions at the substrate
interface.

• Heat source and heat conduction equations are used to estimate temperature distribution.

• In addition theories related to crack nucleation, crack propagation, and delamination are
required. Key geometric parameters are layer thickness, contact width and radius of curvature.

Fluid Mechanics :

• Following theories/relations are required to estimate the tribological behavior.

• Hydrodynamic, aerodynamic, hydrostatic, and aerostatic theories of fluid film lubrication.

• Theories related to conductive/convective heat transfer.

• Rheological behavior of liquid/semi-solids.

• Boundary, mixed and elastohydrodynamic lubrication mechanisms.

• Viscosity thinning and thickening effects.

• Mathematical modeling of thin lubricant film.

Material Science :

• This science is required to estimate the behavior of material in contact as shown in Fig. 1.7 -
1.9. Following aspects are important.

• Surface hardening/treatment.

• Development of high/low temperature coatings to provide non-stick surfaces in molds and

dies, gears, bearings and military weapons.

• Manufacturing processes to apply nanometer to micrometer thick coating on various materials

(material compatibility). Often intermediate coatings are used for better adhesive performance.
For adhesive performance at high temperatures, epoxy-based coatings for ceramics, glass,
metals and plastics are being engineered to withstand 65 0C to nearly 2500C.

• Modeling of thin and thick coatings.

Chemistry :

Knowledge of chemistry is required for

• Synthesis of additives : Antiwear additives & Extreme Pressure additives.

• Compatibility of lubricants with process fluids and contacting surfaces.

• Shelf life of lubricant and its additives.

• Performance of lubricant layer as a function of temperature, sliding, etc.

• Optimizing concentration of lubricant additives : Covalent, metallic and Van der Waal bonds.

References :

1. Dowson D, History of Tribology, Longman London, 1979.

2. Stachowiak G N, Batchelor A W and Stachowick G B "Experimental methods in Tribology",

Tribology Series 44, Editor D Dowson, 2004.

Module 1 : Introduction
Interdisciplinary Approach.

Roll of Surface Roughness :

In previous subheading four disciplines: solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, material science and
chemistry were emphasized. Motion under load induces stresses, and there is possibility of elastic
bending of asperities, breakage of asperities or ploughing of soft surface by asperities. It appears
that surface roughness plays an important role in tribological phenomena. To understand these
aspects of tribology, interdisciplinary approach is required.

Failure rate of any tribo pair (two machine components in relative sliding motion) depends on
the surface roughness of machine components as shown in Fig. 1.10. At the beginning of tribo
action there is a possibility of high surface roughness (infant mortality as shown in Fig. 1.10).
Similarly over a prolonged usage of the component a significant increase in the surface roughness
occurs as shown in Fig. 1.10.

Fig. 1.10: The bathcurve hypotetical failure rate versus time.

To minimize the effect of surface roughness a soft coating (equivalent to a carpet as shown in
1.11) on the surface is preferred due to its easy elastic deformation.

Fig. 1.11: Using elasticity to smooth the ride.

Role of Elastic Deformation :

As two surfaces are brought together surface roughness causes contact to occur at discrete
contact spots. Elastic and plastic deformations occur in the region of contact spots, establishing
stresses which oppose the applied load.

When a elastic solid (completely reversible stresses and strains) is slid against a slider, it
experiences cyclic loading. Such loading limits the life of smooth riding.

Due to positive deviations (roughness above the nominal surface), the contact between solids
confines to a very small fraction of nominally area(δA), and as a result estimated contact stresses
stress on rough surface = F/δA) are much higher in magnitude compared to nominal stresses as
expressed by following equation :

Stress on smooth surface = F/A Eq.(1.1)

Based on this understanding it can be stated that following two surfaces are least preferred from
tribology point of view :
 Fig. 1.12: Two undesirable surfaces.

As asperity contacts affect the tribological performance, the importance of investigating a single
asperity contact in understanding of fundamental tribological and mechanical properties of the
surfaces has been recognized. As elastically deformed substance fills the irregular surfaces and
provides smooth ride, the micro/nano tribological studies are needed to develop fundamental
understanding of interfacial phenomena. The recent emergence of tip-based microscopes (STM
& AFM) and computational techniques for simulating tip-surface interactions has allowed
systematic investigations for tribo-pair interaction.

Surface Roughness :

Surface roughness is defined by short wavelength vertical deviations from nominal surface.
Larger the deviations, rougher the surface. Fig. 1.13 shows three different length: Sampling
length, evaluation length and traversing length. This figure shows that traversing length is
greater than evaluation length. This means we collect more sampling data and reject few data
collected at the start and end of stylus. Further, to find statistically reliable surface roughness,
averaging of roughness data over five sampling lengths is performed. Often roughness is
quantified as average (Ra) and root mean square (Rq) roughness.

Fig. 1.13: Standard method to estimate roughness.

 (a)...............................................(b)
Fig. 1.14: Two common tribo surfaces.

1.14 shows too tribo-surfaces. If we compare Ra and Rq values of two images as shown in 1.14(a)
and 1.14(b) respectively, we find better performance of 1.14(a) compared 1.14(b). In other
words rough surfaces usually wear more quickly and have higher friction coefficients than
smoother surface.

Quantification of Surface Roughness :

As explained in previous sub-heading surface roughness is quantified by Ra and Rq values which

can be calculated by discretizing surfaces as shown in Fig. 1.15 in number of points.

Fig. 1.15: Discretization of surface to find R and R . a q

• Average roughness(Ra)

....Eq.(1.2)

where Z = Variation of surface from mean line

N = Total number of points in sampling length (L).

• Root mean square roughness(Rq)

 ....Eq.(1.3)

From Tribology point of view Rq(root mean square) roughness is preferred over Ra(Average)
roughness. To exemplify it consider two surfaces as shown in Fig. 1.16. In Fig. 1.16(a), value of
Ra is 0.54 and value of Rq is 0.60. This surface is treated as a good surface compared to surface
shown in Fig. 1.16(b) due to lower value of R q (= 0.60) compared to Rq value of Fig. 1.16(b)
which is 0.77. In Fig. 1.16(a) number of peaks are relatively lesser than number of peaks in Fig.
1.16(b). This feature is often missed on comparing Ra value of two surfaces that is why comparing
Rq values is more important than Ravalues.

Fig. 1.16: Comparing R and R q a

There is possibility to reduce contact stresses induced at asperities by lubricating the surfaces.
But based on the level of lubricating film thickness relative to heights of asperities, the governing
mechanism will change. To quantity lubrication mechanism a dimensionless film parameter
(Specific film thickness) (Λ)[1] which is the ratio of separation between two surfaces and the
rms surface roughness values of surface is defined by following equation:

....Eq. 1.4

Based on specific film thickness (Λ), lubrication regime can be identified. If Λ < 1 then more
number of asperities contact will occur and there is a more possibility of wear.If Λ > 5 there is
hardly any possibility of asperities contact and there would not be any wear. If Λ is between 3
to 5 fluid pressure between tribo surfaces would be significant to cause elastic deformation of
asperities. Based on this discussion we can summarize :

• If Λ ≤ 1, then lubrication mechanism would be known as boundary lubrication [1]. To study

this lubricating mechanism knowledge of material science, solid mechanics and chemistry is
required.

• •If 1 < Λ ≤ 3, then lubricating mechanism is known as mixed lubrication [1]. To study this
lubricating mechanism knowledge of all four disciplines (material science, solid mechanics,
chemistry, fluid mechanics) is required.
• If 3 < Λ < 5, then lubricating mechanism is termed as elastohydrodynamic lubrication. For this
lubricating mechanism knowledge of solid and fluid mechanics is required.

• If Λ > 5, then lubricating mechanism is termed as hydrodynamic lubrication for which

knowledge of fluid mechanics is required.

Fig. 1.17: Wear rate comparison among lubricating mechanisms.

Wear rate comparison among various lubricating mechanism is shown in Fig. 1.17. Comparison
of friction coefficient is shown in Fig. 1.18.

Fig. 1.18: Stribeck curve.

 Fig. 1.19: Hydrodynamic to mixed lubrication.

Fig. 1.19 indicates hydrodynamic lubrication regime may become mixed lubrication regime in the
presence of large size debris. To avoid this lubricant filter systems are used.

References :

1. Michael M Khonsari, Applied Tribology (Bearing Design and Lubrication),John Wiley & Sons,
2001.

Module 1 : Introduction
Economic Benefits

Implementation of tribological knowledge provide economic benefits by reducing energy loss due
to friction, loss due to breakdowns, reducing depreciation of machinery. Jost Report(1966)[1]
indicates saving of about £515M/year by implementing tribology in UK industry.

There are a number of examples (i.e. I.C. engines, turbomachinery, gears, cam-followers,
bearings, seals) where attempts have been made to reduce wear and friction to enhance service
life and reduce loss of energy/materials.

Example 1 : Hard Disk Drive

Inside a disk drive, a slider with read/write recording head flies over a rotating disk as shown in
Fig. 1.20 and Fig. 1.21. Reduction in spacing between head sensor & magnetic medium by
implementing tribological guidelines, increases the areal density and larger data can be stored
in relatively smaller space.
 Fig. 1.20: Hard disk drive(side view)

Fig. 1.21: Hard disk drive(top view)

Example 2: I.C.Engine

Approximately 15% energy is lost through friction due to motion of pistons(Fig. 1.22) valve
trains(Fig. 1.23 and Fig. 1.24), bearings(Fig. 1.25) etc. 10% is lost through friction in the
gearboxes and wheel bearings.
Fig. 1.22: Reciprocating piston

Fig. 1.23: Valve train

 Fig. 1.24: Direct overhead cam

There are more than 700 million vehicles in world. Average power of engine is estimated as 30
BHP and with tribological knowledge this can be increased by 2 to 5%. If we assume 2%
improvement in BHP, then 420 million HP can be saved.

• Average Iron and Steel industry allots Rs. 3-5 million for maintenance / Replacement of
bearings. A rough estimation indicates that 10% percent of bearing life can be improved by
better lubricant, lubricant additive, proper bearing installation. Implementation of tribological
knowledge in iron and steel industries of India can save 3 to 5 million rupees per year.

Fig. 1.25: Failure of outer ring of bearing

Successful implementation of tribological knowledge in India can save 1 to 1.5% of GNP ($ 3.4
Trillion) --> Rs. 1500 million. If 50% of this cost needs to be invested in unsuccessful trials and
fruitless hypotheses, still India will gain from practicing tribology.

References :

1. Jost H P, Lubrication (Tribology) : A Report on the present position and industry`s needs, Her
Majesty`s Stationary Office, London, 1966.