I think it would be interesting for members of this network to share examples from their personal experience of where Tribology has been helpful in the development of manufactured products. Manufacturing is regarded as a wealth-creating economic sector, but that is only true if certain conditions are met. One condition is that the products being developed must be able to compete profitably in the face of open competition.
All manufactured products and all manufacturing processes embody tribological interfaces to some extent. Whether it is acknowledged or not, Tribology involves increasing our understanding of the "hidden magic" of all mechanical interfaces, which enables us to make them more efficient, more compact and more reliable. In the development of world-class products, therefore, Tribology can play its part whether or not the "T word" is used explicitly.
My own introduction to Tribology came through my involvement with hydraulic fluid power, in particular the research and development of radial-piston motors, which were applied mainly in off-highway construction machines - the so-called "yellow goods" sector. I worked at a factory employing over 300 people and exporting around 90% of production. Including the supplier base and support services, this operation was a good example of wealth creation in action.
I was heavily involved with two major R&D-based projects that were heavily dependent on Tribology for their success. Together, these projects safeguarded a significant proportion of the factory's business.
The first project was an investigation of an unacceptably high failure rate on one type of motor, which initiated consistently at a particular internal interface and was highly destructive. I led a project to identify the dominant root causes. As a tribological investigation, the scope included lubrication, material properties, surface roughness and operating conditions. Work packages included physical tests ranging from laboratory scale to the whole motor, numerical simulation using specialist software tools, and basic analysis from first principles. Reassuringly, we showed that if the motor was made "right" it had a very high safety margin. It became clear that the problem was largely due to uncontrolled (and undetected) deviations in a surface treatment process. My scope shifted towards understanding this process thoroughly, tightening its specification and enforcing the application of the new specification by the contractor concerned. As the corrective actions were implemented, the failure rate on the motors reduced to zero.
The second project involved the continuation and completion of a longstanding project to increase the starting efficiency of the motors. In effect, the aim was to reduce the internal frictional loss of the motors at startup and ultra-low speed. Thanks to Professors Stribeck and Sommerfeld, the dependency of friction on speed and lubrication is clear. Previous work on this project had focused on evaluating new materials, which had not yielded useful results and placed us at the mercy of material suppliers' own R&D programmes. Considering the fundamentals of the Stribeck curve, I was able to reframe the problem into one that was within our control. Firstly, I demonstrated the superior starting efficiency of run-in motors, then asked how such good performance could be achieved on new motors. Significantly smoother surface finish was the difference, and the company began a project to change its manufacturing process accordingly. These results and actions were presented to key customers, encouraging them to trust and commit to us as a long-term motor supplier.
In the course of these projects, I studied Tribology and began to interpret the technical problems in a tribological context. One of the keys of both projects was forming and motivating a team of people, across deep organisational boundaries, to focus their own competences on to analysing the problem and generating new solutions. I was fortunate to work for a large organisation with an internal network of PhD-qualified Tribology specialists, who brought real discipline to the effort - and I learned a lot from them all.
I believe that the other key was the personal effort I made to understand the fundamental concepts of Tribology, which enabled me to creatively redefine intractable problems into problems that could be solved incrementally and to interpret and unify the contributions of the specialists.
As a generalist engineer, attempting to solve intractable problems under immense commercial pressure, I found that I had all the necessary tools to complete the projects successfully. For me, this was the real gift of Tribology, and it is one that I believe to be transferable to widely different challenges and organisational situations.
Are you an "undercover tribologist" working on wealth-creating product development? How has Tribology enabled or inspired your work? Please share your story with the members of the IET Tribology Network.