Chapter 4: INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE: Students should be able to understand about tribology’s definition and its components, the role of tribology in industry and human life, and the concept of micro/nanotribology. 1.1, DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF TRIBOLOGY Tribology in Greek is ‘tribos” meaning “rubbing”. Therefore, it would be “the science of rubbing”. Tribology in English is Friction and wear or lubrication science. Dictionaries define tribology as the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion and of related subject and practice. The name of tribology is relatively new but its original production such as a ball thrust bearing was dated about AD 40. The use of wheels from 3500 BC. A two wheeled harvest cart with studded wheels, circa 1338 AD as shown in Figure 1.1. The know — how of frictional devices and lubricants, such as water-lubricated sleds is illustrated in Figure 1.2. A tomb in Egypt dated several thousand year BC provides evidence of the use of lubricants. For example, the original animal fat lubricant was evident in its wheel bearings. Figure 1.1. Drawing of two-wheeled harvest cart with studded wheels, circa 1338 AD. Prepared by Associate Professor. Dr. Quang The Phan and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Phan 1Figure 1.2. Egyptians using lubricant to aid movement of colossus, circa 1880 BC. During and after the Roman empire, military engineers designed and produced war machinery using tribological principles. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) had found and introduced the concept of the coefficient of friction as the ratio of the friction force to normal load. In 1699, Guillaume Amontons, rediscovers the rules of friction. - Friction force is directly proportional to the normal load. - The amount of friction does not depend on the apparent area of contact. Coulomb, 1785 added a third law that the friction force is independent of velocity once motion starts Many developments happened during the 1500s, particularly in the application of bearing materials. In 1684, Robert Hooke suggested that the combination of steel shaft and bell-metal bushes would be preferable to wood shod with iron in wheel bearings. In 1688, Sir Isaac Newton postulated essential laws of viscous flow. However, understanding of lubricated bearings operations did not occur until the end of the nineteenth century. The principle of hydraulic lubrication was made possible experimentally by Beauchamp Tower (1884) and theoretically by Osborne Reynolds (1886). Wear is a much younger subject than friction and bearing development. Scientific studies of wear scarcely developed until the mid- twentieth century. In 1946, Ragnar Holm is the first person contributed Prepared by Associate Professor. Dr. Quang The Phan and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Phan 2considerably to the study of wear. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, industry growth very fast leading to demand for better tribology, the knowledge in this area has expanded tremendously. 1.2. INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANT OF TRIBOLOGY Tribology involves with frictional interaction between sliding and rolling contacts of surfaces in machinery in all areas of industry. The losses resulting from ignorance of tribology in the US to about 4% of its gross national product or about 200 billion USD per year. The purpose of research in tribology is to minimize and eliminate the losses caused by friction and wear at all levels of technology where rubbing surfaces is involved. This leads to better efficiency, better performance, fewer breakdown, and significant savings Since 1800s, tribology has been important in numerous industrial applications of relative motion such as railroads, automobiles, aircraft, and manufacturing processes. Tribology is also affects our day-to-day life such as writing, shaving, walking, driving, skiing etc. 1.3. ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MICRO/NANOTRIBOLOGY The interface of surface occurs through numerous levels of asperities. The importance of studying a single asperity contact in research of fundamental tribological and mechanical properties of surfaces at contact has been recognized for long time. Advanced microscopies and computational techniques for simulating tip-surface interactions and interface properties have allowed systematic investigations of interfacial problems with high resolution as well as means of modifying and mahipulating nanoscale structures. This has led to the development of new field of microtribology, nanotribology, molecular tribology, or atomic scale tribology. A comparison between conventional or microtribology and micro/nanotribology is as shown in Table 1.1. In macrotribology, study is based on component with relatively large mass under heavily loaded conditions. Wear is inevitable and the bulk properties of mating components dominate the tribological performance. In micro/nanotribology study is based on relative small mass under lightly loaded conditions. Wear can be negligible and the surface properties dominate the tribological Prepared by Associate Professor. Dr. Quang The Phan and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Phan Aperformance. Table 1.1. Comparison between macrotribology and micro/nanotribology. MACROTRIBOLOGY —_| MICRO/NANOTRIBOLOGY largemass | Smallimass(ug) _—| Heavy load Light load (ug to mg) WEAR NO WEAR inevitable Few atomic layers Bulk material Surface (Few atomic layer) The micro!nanotribological studies are needed to develop a fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena on a small scale and to study interfacial phenomena in micro- and nano structures used in magnetic storage systems, micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), and other industrial applications. The components used in micro- and nanostructures are very light (the order of few milligram) and operate under very light loads (the order of a few micrograms to a few milligrams). Consequently, friction and wear are highly independent on the surface interactions (a few atomic layers). The lubrication is at the level of molecule or thin films. Micro/nanotribological studies are also valuable in the fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena in macrostructures to provide a bridge between science and engineering * The fundamental nature of bonding and interactions in materials in combination of advanced in computer-based modeling and simulation have allowed studies of complex interfacial phenomena with high resolution in space and time. 1.4, SUMMARY Tribology has a very long history of application in both industry and human life. Tribology deals with friction, wear and friction at the interface of contacting surfaces. Tribology is classified into: macrotribology and micro/nanotribology in Prepared by Associate Professor. Dr. Quang The Phan and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Phan 4aspect of component's mass and load resulting in wear penetrated into bulk material under large mass and heavy load or surface phenomenon under light mass and load. Tribology plays an important role in the efficiency of machinery at the contacting surfaces both sliding and rolling. Failure in tribology care results in a considerable loss of the gross national product. Prepared by Associate Professor. Dr. Quang The Phan and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Phan 5