EME 4353 Advanced Engineering Materials

Lecture 8 :
Introduction to Tribology

PowerPoint® Slides
by Dr Lai MK
 Learning Objectives

1. To achieve an understanding of tribology and its

importance.
2. To understand how to model a rough engineering
surface
3. To gain knowledge of the fundamentals of friction.
4. To gain knowledge of the types of wear

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 2

 Introduction

1. Tribology comes from the Greek word “tribos” meaning

rubbing.
2. To describe the “science and technology of interacting
surfaces in relative motion and related practices”
 Involves friction, wear and lubrication
3. Example: In automobiles,
a) Friction between tires and road essential for
automobiles to move around
b) Friction between break pads and rotors stop the
vehicles
c) Lubricants are employed to mitigate both.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 3

 is the vertical distance from the mean line

Surface Roughness

1. Surfaces are never perfectly flat. Quality of the surface finishing

can be represented in a surface profile.
2. Mean line is the line such that the area above the profile line equals
that below the mean line
3. In triobology, height of the highest asperities above the mean line
is an important parameter because damage of the interface may be
done by the few high asperities present

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 4

 Average Roughness Parameters

1. Ra is the arithmetic mean of the absolute values of vertical

deviation from the mean line through the profile

2. Rq is the root mean square (RMS), square root of the arithmetic

mean of the square of the vertical deviation from a reference line

3. Rz is the distance the averages of the five highest asperities and

the five lowest valleys

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 5

 Surface Roughness Measurement

1. Mechanical Stylus Method

2. Optical Methods
• Specular Reflection
• Scattering
• Optical Interference
3. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) – STM and AFM
4. Fluid Methods
5. Electrical Methods
6. Electron Microscopy Methods

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 6

 Mechanical Stylus Method

1. It amplifies and records the vertical motions of a stylus displaced

under a constant load and speed by the surface to be measured.
2. The stylus arm is loaded against the sample and either the stylus or
sample is scanned. Styli are made of diamond with a sharp tip
generally a cone with 60° or 90° included angle.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 7

 Optical Methods

1. Example: Specular Reflection, Scattering, Optical Interference

2. In Optical Interference, the reflected beams from two parallel plates
placed normal to the incident beam interfere and result in the
formation of fringes. The fringes spacing is a function of the
spacing of the two plates. If one of the plate is reference and
another is the rough surface, fringe spacing can be related to the
surface roughness.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 8

 Atomic Force Microscopy

A very sharp tip mounted on a very flexible cantilever beam is scanned

on the sample surface at a constant normal load to produce very high-
resolution, 3-D images of the sample surface. Either the tip or the
sample can be canned. AFM measures ultra-small forces (less than 1
nN) present between the AFM tip surface and a sample surface.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 9

 Friction

1. Friction is the resistance to motion when one solid body moves

over another with which it is in contact.
2. There are two types of friction:
• Dry friction or “Coulomb” friction exists in dry contacts
• Fluid friction exists between adjacent layers in a fluid moving at
different velocities relative to each other as in fluid film
bearings.
3. They only touches where the asperities meet
 Real contact area Ar is only a fraction of the nominal area An
4. Magnitude of Ar affect adhesion, friction and wear. It generally
needs to be minimized for low adhesion, friction and wear.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 10

 Contact between two surfaces

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 11

 Basic Mechanisms of Sliding Friction

During relative motion, energy is required:

• to overcome interfacial adhesion (Adhesion)
• for micro-scale deformation of contacting surfaces
• for macro-scale deformation (grooving) for the situations where
asperities of one surface (harder and/or rougher of the two) or
trapped particles plough through the other via plastic deformation
(Deformation)
• for hysteresis losses in viscoelastic
materials (e.g., polymers) (Hysteresis)

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 12

 Coefficient of Friction

1. Friction force, F is proportional to applied force and is independent

of contact area, F = N

Why area independence of the friction force?

N
F = SAr and Ar 
P
Where S = shear strength of junctions between two surfaces
Ar = real area of contact
N = normal force pressing two bodies together
P = penetration hardness of the weaker of the friction couple
F SAr S
  
N PAr P

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 13

 Example

A hard ball is slid against a soft and flat surface at two

different loads. At one load, the coefficient of friction is 0.20
and the groove width is 0.5 mm and at another load, the
coefficient of friction is 0.25 and the grove width is 1.0 mm.
Calculate the radius of the ball and the adhesive
component of the coefficient of friction. Assume that the
dominant sources of friction are adhesion and ploughing
and these are additives.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 14

 Solution

 = a + d
For a ball on a flat surface,
4r
  a 
3R

Where 2r – groove width, R – radius of the ball

4 x0.25
For first load, 0.20  a 
3R

4 x0.5
For second load, 0.25   a 
3R

Solving simultaneously, R = 2.1 mm and a = 0.15

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 15

 Friction of Materials

Friction of Metals and Alloys

1. Clean metal and alloy surfaces exhibit high adhesion and
consequently high friction and wear. Slight contamination mitigates
contact and reduce friction and wear.
2. Generally friction of self-mated metals is high (strong metallurgical
bonding), e.g. steel on steel.
3. Environment has significant influence, e.g. oxide films produced
when exposed to air may reduce friction.
4. The increase in sliding velocity, contact pressure, and temperature
result in metal softening which increases contact area but reduces
interfacial shear strength.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 16

 Friction of Ceramics
1. These have moderate friction but very low wear.
2. Ceramics exhibit high mechanical strength, do not lose much
mechanical strength or oxidize readily at elevated temperatures
and are resistant to corrosive environments
– used in extreme environment conditions, such as high load,
high speeds, high temperatures and corrosive environments
3. Fracture toughness of ceramics is an important property in friction
of ceramics. Coefficient of friction generally decreases with an
increase of fracture toughness.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 17

 Friction of Polymers
1. The coefficient of friction of selected polymers (plastics and
elastomers) sliding against themselves or against metals or
ceramics range from 0.15 to 0.6, except for PTFE which exhibit
very low friction (~0.05) comparable to conventional solid
lubricants.
• Polymers nominally exhibit moderate wear.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 18

 Friction of Solid Lubricants
1. A class of materials that exhibit very low friction and moderately low
wear without a liquid lubricant – e.g. graphite, MoS2 and PTFE
• Within the layers of graphite and MoS2, the bonding between the
atoms is covalent and strong. These layers are separated by
relatively large distances, and held together by weak van der
Waals type bonding. Displacement of the layers easily occurs
which is responsible for low friction.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 19

 Wear

1. Surface damage or removal of material from one or both of two

surfaces in motion
2. Major categories of wear:
a) Adhesion – requires adhesion of one surface to another
b) Abrasion – requires hard, sharp surfaces imposed on softer
surfaces
3. In well-designed tribological systems, removal of material is a slow
process but is steady and continuous

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 20

 Adhesive wear

1. Occurs when two flat solid bodies are in sliding contact, lubricated
or not.
2. Adhesion occurs at the asperity contacts at the interface
3. These contacts are sheared by sliding  detachment of a fragment
from one surface and attachment to the other surface

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 21

 Abrasive wear

1. Occurs when asperities of rough, hard surfaces (two body) or hard

particles (three body) slide on a softer surface, damaging the
interface
 Hard particle can be fixed (imbedded) or free to roll
2. Scratching is observed as a series of grooves parallel to direction
of sliding

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 22

 Wear of Materials

Wear of Metals and Alloys

1. The clean metals and alloys in a solid contact exhibit high adhesion
and consequently high friction and wear.
2. The slightest contamination mitigates contact or forms chemical
films which reduce adhesion consequently friction and wear.
3. In general, wear for alloys tends to be lower than that for pure
components.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 23

 Wear of Ceramics
1. Ceramics exhibit high mechanical strength, do not lose much strength or
oxidize readily at elevated temperatures and are resistant to corrosive
environments.
• used in extreme environmental applications
2. Tribochemical interactions of ceramics with the liquid or gaseous
environment control the wear and friction of ceramics.
• Dependent on the chemical reaction, wear and friction may decrease or
increase.

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 24

 Lubrication

1. Friction cannot be avoided, only reduced through lubrication, solid

or fluid lubricants
2. Solid lubricants: any material used on a surface to provide
protection from damage during relative movement, i.e. bearings
and thin film (polymer)
3. Liquid lubrications: prevents solid-solid contact i.e. oil, grease
 Provide very low friction and negligible wear

Regime of lubrication Bearing

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 25

 Bearings

1. Support and locate rotating or sliding elements with

respect to other parts of a mechanism/structure
2. Two types:
a) Flat pad
b) Revolute bearings
3. Bearings materials:
a) Standard – high carbon, chromium steel
b) Corrosive environment – stainless steel

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 26

 Boundary lubricants

1. Occurs under high-load and low-speed condition where

the solid surfaces are so close together that opposing
asperities is in contact with each others
 last line of defense
2. Boundary films are formed by physical adsorption,
chemical adsorption and chemical reaction
3. A good boundary lubricant should have a high degree of
interaction between its molecules and the sliding
surface

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 27

 a) Physisorption, b) chemisorption, c) chemical reaction

Last Updated: 10/10/2019 © I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 28