Publisher's Synopsis
The special issue entitled as "Machining, Mechanics and Tribology" in Industrial Lubrication and Tribology to summarize the latest findings in this interdisciplinary research topic. The first studies on tribology, including friction, wear and lubrication, date back to the ancient Egypt. During the construction of the pyramids, the Egyptians had already realized that the efforts involved in transporting heavy stones can be significantly reduced when putting rolling elements underneath them. Most probably, this can be considered as the first evidence that there is a significant difference between rolling and sliding friction. Over the centuries, many prominent researchers including Da Vinci, Newton, Coulomb among others have worked on frictional problems thus trying to explore the underlying phenomena. Historically, tribology is mainly connected to mechanical engineering and has been treated by mechanical engineers. However, over the last few decades, it has become evident that tribology is a multi-disciplinary research topic involving mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, physics and even biology among others. Researchers have become aware about the fact that manufacturing processes affect both the resulting mechanical properties, as well as the re-maining properties of materials, such as surface roughness, chemistry and micro-structure. The aforementioned aspects significantly influence the resulting friction and wear performance, which emphasizes that for the optimization of tribological properties, all these aspects/properties need to be considered together. The throughout analysis of tribological systems is further complicated since many properties are highly interconnected, which makes tribology a highly complex and sophisticated research topic with a wide range of potential variables.
