Selected papers from those presented at the 3rd International Tribology Symposium of IFToMM

Abstract

The International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM) is an organisation aimed at promoting research and development in the field of machines and mechanisms by theoretical and experimental methods, along with their practical application. IFToMM has several technical committees in different fields, and one is dedicated to Tribology. The technical committee for tribology requests prominent research groups in tribology to host and organise an international symposium on tribology. The 1st International Conference on Tribology of IFToMM was held in Bejing, China, in 2008, and the 2nd symposium was organised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2010. The 3rd International Tribology Symposium of IFToMM was organised by the Division of Machine Elements of Luleå University of Technology in Sweden from March 19–21, 2013. The symposium was held in the Luleå University of Technology campus during three fantastic winter days, providing a perfect forum for the tribologists for presenting their latest research and exchange of ideas. The participants were also given the opportunity to experience the snowy landscape during a memorable outdoor dinner. The symposium attracted 146 participants from 26 countries. In all, 92 papers spread over 32 sessions (including six plenary sessions) were presented. These papers covered both the fundamental and applied aspects of wide ranging topics such as friction, wear, lubrication, lubricants, tribology in hostile environment, tribomaterials, solid lubricants, surface engineering, tribotesting, tribological design and optimisation of machine components, modelling in tribology, biotribology, micro/nanotribology, tribotronics, tribology in power generating systems, metal working tribology and tribology in rail and road transport. Two additional events were also organised in conjunction with the conference, a young researcher forum and the second international high temperature tribology workshop. This special issue of Lubrication Science contains papers1-8 from those presented at the 3rd International Tribology Symposium of IFToMM (ITS 2013) that were recommended by the organising committee of ITS 2013. Zhmud et al.1 introduced the triboconditioning process, which is a mechanochemical surface finishing technique developed for improving the tribological properties of mechanical components made of steel or cast iron. The process combines elements of extreme pressure mechanical burnishing of the component surface with a tribochemical deposition of a low-friction anti-wear film of tungsten disulphide (WS2). In the paper of Kaneta et al.,2 the effects of microgrooves in elliptical EHL contacts is studied by means of numerical analysis. The results show that the formation of microgrooves induced by local high pressures may influence the surface failure of machine elements. Lijesh and Hirani3 studied the stiffness and damping characteristics of a special type of rubber-mounted hybrid bearing. For example, by softening the rubber through immersing it in an aromatic liquid, the effect of rubber Young's modulus on the damping was studied. Courbon et al.4 focused their study on the influence of cryogenic lubrication on friction within the context of machining TiAl6V4 and Inconel 718 alloys with carbide cutting tools. For this purpose, they used a specially designed open tribometer in order to characterise macroscopic friction coefficient, heat transfer and adhesion in the contact for a large range of sliding velocities. In the paper5 by Tuszynski et al., they performed model and component scuffing test with gear oils formulated with biodegradable and non-toxic base oils. They draw the conclusion that rapeseed-based gear oils can be used only for the lubrication of gears working under moderate load conditions Rajput and Sharma6 investigated the influence of micropolar lubrication on the stability of a constant flow valve compensated multi-recess conical hybrid journal bearing system. They performed numerical simulations of the micropolar lubricated bearing system by means of a finite element discretisation of a Reynolds equation modified according to Eringen theory. Lichun et al.7 studied the effect of surface texturing on friction, and wear properties of a line contact between cylindrical and plane surfaces in sliding were investigated experimentally in mixed lubrication conditions. In their tests, lower dimple area density and larger dimple size showed a better lubrication performance. Minami et al.8 investigated new tribosystems composed of green chemicals. For example, they assessed the compatibility of a Zn-free lubricant with hydrogen-free amorphous DLC by means of an SRV test machine and a friction coefficient of 0.02 with steel as counter surface. The organising committee would like to thank all the authors and delegates who made ITS 2013 a very successful and much memorable event. Finally, the guest editors of this special issue of Lubrication Science would also like to sincerely thank all the reviewers for devoting their time and providing their valuable inputs during the reviewing process of these papers.