Course Name

Tribology
Course Code
MTME-202

Course Coordinator
Amandeep Singh Bansal
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pre-requisites

 Engineering Mathematics
 Engineering Mechanics
 Material Science
 Strength of Materials
 Fluid Mechanics
 Dynamics of Machines
 Machine Design
Course Objectives / Outcome
After successful completion of this course,
students will be able to:
 Theoretical and practical knowledge of
friction, wear and lubrication processes on
the macro- and microscopic scale. Their
application in mechanical engineering design
 Materials and lubricant selection from the
point of minimization and elimination of
losses resulting from friction and wear.
Course Objectives / Outcome
 Differentiate between the types of lubricants and its
respective application area.
 Understand and explain different laws of friction and
topology of surfaces.
 Appreciate the various modes of wear and the wear-
mechanism maps.
 Understand behaviour of bearing in different lubrication
regimes and able to develop mathematical model.
 Select the type of bearing for any given required
engineering use and determine the load carrying
capacity andother related parameters.
 Decide on the condition monitoring techniques based
on performance of tribological components
Syllabus (For MST – I)
 Introduction (7 Lectures)
Background, Meaning of tribology, Cost of friction and wear, Types of
contacts, Types of motions, Types of deformations, Surface energy and flash
temperature theory, Interdisciplinary approach.
 Friction and Wear (12 Lectures)
Topography of engineering surfaces, Material properties influencing friction,
Cause/source of friction, Laws of friction, Friction characteristics, Friction
of metals, non-metals, lamellar solids, ceramics and polymers, Energy
dissipation mechanism, Stick-lip motion, Measurement of friction, Types of
wear: abrasive, erosive, cavitation and adhesive wear ,Wear mechanism,
Theories of wear, Friction effecting wear, Wear of metals and non-metals,
ceramics and polymers, Wear measurements in dry and wet environments
and Wear equipment.
 Syllabus (For MST – II)
 Lubrication(10 lectures)
Importance, Types and mechanism of lubrication, squeeze film, hydro-static,
hydrodynamic, elasto-hydrodynamic and plasto-hydrodynamic lubrication,
Solution of Reynold’s equation in two and three dimensions, Pressure
distribution, load carrying capacity and friction forces in oil films, Coefficient
of friction in Journal bearing, A brief introduction of solid lubricants and their
applications.
 Tribology of Bearings (8 Lectures)
Principle, Operations and Selection Criteria: : hydrodynamic bearing,
hydrodynamic journal bearing, hydrostatic bearing, rolling element, ball
bearing, roller bearing, needle roller bearing, Design of bearing/journal bearing,
Clearance in journal bearing, Minimum film thickness, Sommar-field number,
Heat generation and cooling.
 Industrial Applications of Tribology (8 Lectures)
In metal working: effect of friction, Classification of plastic deformation in
rolling, drawing, extrusion, forging, sheet-metal, metal removal and metal
finishing, Lube share in metal working process, In Mining: Tools and cutters,
Tribology in excavation, loading, haulage and hoisting, In paper and glass fibre
industry.
Method of Internal Assessment

 Class attendance: 6 marks

 Homework Assignments
and Presentation: 14 marks
 Mid Semester Term: 30 Marks
 Total: 50 marks
Resource Bank
Text Book (T)/ Name of
S. No. Book Title Publisher Edition
Reference Book (R) Author(s)

Sahoo,
1 Engineering Tribology T PHI Learning 2005
Prasanta

S. Chand
Sushil Kumar
2 Tribology in Industries T Publishing 2001
Srivastava
2001

Prentice Hall
Fundamentals Of
3 R Basu, S.K. of India:New 2010
Tribology
Delhi
What is Tribology?
 Tribology comes from the Greek word,
“tribos”, meaning “rubbing” or “to rub”.

 And from the suffix, “ology” means “the

study of”

 Therefore, Tribology is the study of

rubbing, or… “the study of things that
rub”.
Tribology
 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
 Seal
As shown in Fig. 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.
Cam
 Example is related pitting wear
on the cam surface. 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.
 Journal Bearings
 The following figures 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.
 Multi-row Roller Bearing
 Cracking of outer ring is
shown in Fig. 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.
History of Tribology
 Details of the history of tribology are given by : Dowson
 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.
History of Tribology Cont…
 After 1966, the word “Tribology” has been used for :
◦ Basic mechanisms governing interfacial behavior.
◦ Basic theories quantifying interfacial mechanisms.
◦ Solutions to friction and wear problems.

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

tunneling microscope”(STM) 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) 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.
Need of Tribology as subject cont…
 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.

 Solid mechanics
 Solid mechanics governs the response of solid material to applied force as shown in Fig.
 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.
Material science and chemistry
 Material Science :
◦ This science is required to estimate the behavior of material in contact as
shown in Fig. 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 650C 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.
 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.
Practical Objective of Tribology
Cost of friction and wear
 The enormous cost of tribological
deficiencies to any national economy is
mostly caused by the large amount of energy
and material losses occurring simultaneously
on virtually every mechanical device in
operation.
 When reviewed on the basis of a single
machine, the losses are small.
 However, when the same loss is repeated on
perhaps a million machines of a similar type,
then the costs become very large.
Example
 About two hundred years ago, it was
suggested by Jacobs Rowe that by the
application of the rolling element bearing to
the carriages the number of horses required
for all the carriages and carts in the United
Kingdom could be halved. Since the
estimated national total number of horses
involved in this form of transportation was
at that time about 40,000, the potential
saving in horse-care costs was about one
million pounds per annum at early 18th
century prices
Example suggest that a form of ‘tribology
equation’ can be used to obtain a simple
estimate of either costs or benefits from
existing or improved tribological practice.
 Such equation can be summarized as:
Total Tribological Cost/Saving
= Sum of Individual Machine Cost/Saving
×Number of Machines
 This equation can be applied to any other problem in
order to roughly estimate the relevance of tribology to
a particular situation.