The History of Tribology

Gabrielle Birchak/ September 24, 2024/ Late Modern History, Modern History, Post Classical

In 1966, one fas­ci­nat­ing word was pre­sent­ed in a paper in Europe, chang­ing the study of fric­tion and engi­neer­ing. Ah, 1966! What a won­der­ful year! It was the year of the ATM patent, the first year of Med­ic­aid, the year I was born, The Bea­t­les album “Rub­ber Soul” was num­ber one for six weeks, NASA’s Luna 9 became the first space­craft to land on the moon, Muham­mad Ali refused to be draft­ed into the Viet­nam War and was sen­tenced to prison and banned from box­ing for three years, and the very first episode of Star Trek aired. And it was the year of tribology!

What is tri­bol­o­gy? Tri­bol­o­gy is the research and sci­ence of the wear­ing down, lubri­ca­tion, and fric­tion of engag­ing sur­faces. The study of fric­tion would be impos­si­ble with­out the study of tribology.

I have always been fas­ci­nat­ed by the sto­ries of peo­ple who are con­vinced that aliens built the pyra­mids. It’s as if they don’t want to give humans any cred­it for the incred­i­ble work we have done through­out our exis­tence. Those beau­ti­ful con­structs would not be here with­out our brain pow­er to under­stand the val­ue of reduc­ing fric­tion. The pyra­mids that fill us with awe and won­der were pos­si­ble because ancient archi­tects and engi­neers under­stood the con­cepts of tri­bol­o­gy. All those exte­ri­or lime­stone blocks and inte­ri­or gran­ite for the inner cham­bers were quar­ried near­by and were moved through the process of drag­ging them over wet sand.

In Latin, the term “fric­tion” was fric­tionem, which means to rub, rub down, or scrape two things together.

The long and rich study of fric­tion brings togeth­er many astute philoso­phers and sci­en­tists, includ­ing Aris­to­tle, Vit­ru­vius, da Vin­ci, Coloumb, Amon­tons, Leslie, and Reynolds. Aris­to­tle flour­ished around the fourth cen­tu­ry BCE. He indi­rect­ly addressed the con­cept of fric­tion, motion, and resis­tance in his two works, Physics and Mechan­ics. Vit­ru­vius, the Roman archi­tect and engi­neer from the first cen­tu­ry BCE, ref­er­enced fric­tion in his work On Archi­tec­ture. Pliny the Elder, from the first cen­tu­ry CE, described the fric­tion­al prop­er­ties of mate­ri­als used for tools and machines. Pliny also men­tioned how lubri­cants and mate­ri­als, includ­ing oils and grease, could reduce fric­tion in mechan­i­cal oper­a­tions. This ref­er­ence was one of the very first to the foun­da­tions of tribology.

Some of our ear­li­est writ­ings that address fric­tion come from Leonar­do da Vin­ci, who lived in the fif­teenth-cen­tu­ry Renais­sance era. His writ­ings and obser­va­tions can be found in his codices, includ­ing Codex Arun­del, Codex Atlanti­cus, and his two note­books in Codex Madrid I and Madrid II. As the obser­vant, inge­nious indi­vid­ual that he was, he stud­ied and not­ed the dif­fer­ence between slid­ing and rolling friction.

In the sev­en­teenth cen­tu­ry, dur­ing the Enlight­en­ment, the French physi­cist and engi­neer Guil­laume Amon­tons, inspired by da Vin­ci, expand­ed on his work through the stud­ies of fric­tion and ther­mo­dy­nam­ics. Amon­tons’ work was pro­found in that he ver­bal­ly for­mal­ized da Vinci’s first laws of fric­tion and then built on them with his three laws of fric­tion, which I will go into in my next pod­cast, so stay tuned for that one!

In the eigh­teenth cen­tu­ry, the French offi­cer, engi­neer, and physi­cist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb expand­ed on Amon­tons’ laws. Coulomb influ­enced our present-day under­stand­ing of fric­tion, which was foun­da­tion­al for study­ing tribology.

Coulomb was a French engi­neer, offi­cer, and physi­cist. In 1779, he pub­lished his analy­sis of the laws of fric­tion, which in Eng­lish is titled The­o­ry of Sim­ple Machines, Hav­ing Regard to the Fric­tion of their Parts and the Stiff­ness of the Ropes. Twen­ty years lat­er, he pub­lished a mem­oir on his research in flu­id resis­tance. These works pro­vid­ed an even greater under­stand­ing of flu­id flow and its rela­tion to tri­bol­o­gy. Fur­ther­more, Coulomb estab­lished his pri­ma­ry the­o­ry on fric­tion, which we now know as Coulomb’s Law of  Fric­tion, which explains how the force that resists the move­ment of two sur­faces slid­ing against each oth­er depends on the weight of the object and the rough­ness of the sur­faces. In oth­er words, the hard­er the sur­faces are pressed togeth­er and rougher, the more fric­tion there will be. 

His find­ings are still used in engi­neer­ing and physics, par­tic­u­lar­ly in design­ing machin­ery struc­tures and under­stand­ing nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na. He sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­enced the­o­ret­i­cal and applied mechan­ics and laid the ground­work for fur­ther tri­bo­log­i­cal developments.

By the time the nine­teenth and twen­ti­eth cen­turies came about, the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion was in full swing. The study of fric­tion under­went sig­nif­i­cant changes dur­ing the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion, dri­ven by the increas­ing demand for effi­cient machin­ery and the need to under­stand and opti­mize mechan­i­cal sys­tems. As a result, under­stand­ing fric­tion was nec­es­sary for improv­ing the endurance and effec­tive­ness of these machines. Engi­neers focused on reduc­ing fric­tion to improve the per­for­mance of mov­ing parts like gears, bear­ings, and wheels. This study of reduc­ing fric­tion led to the devel­op­ment of bet­ter lubri­cants and the study of wear and tear.

Addi­tion­al­ly, advance­ments in lubri­ca­tion led to longer-last­ing and more effi­cient machines, which then led to the study of flu­id friction.

John Leslie stud­ied the effects of tem­per­a­ture on mate­ri­als and how heat influ­ences fric­tion. Leslie was a Scot­tish math­e­mati­cian and physi­cist who con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to the research of heat and tem­per­a­ture. He inves­ti­gat­ed how heat­ing and cool­ing mate­ri­als affect­ed their fric­tion­al prop­er­ties and con­tributed to a deep­er under­stand­ing of the rela­tion­ship between ther­mal con­di­tions and mechan­i­cal behav­ior. Addi­tion­al­ly, he found that man­ag­ing heat and fric­tion was crit­i­cal to main­tain­ing pro­fi­cien­cy and pre­vent­ing dam­age to the com­po­nents of many of these advanced machines.

Osborne Reynolds, a British engi­neer and physi­cist known for his pio­neer­ing work in flu­id mechan­ics, also con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to the field of tri­bol­o­gy. Hav­ing stud­ied Navier Stokes equa­tions and flu­id flow, I think Reynolds was one of the most bril­liant physi­cists who laid some sig­nif­i­cant foun­da­tions for flu­id dynam­ics. He’s best known for intro­duc­ing the con­cept of the Reynolds num­ber, which is a dimen­sion­less quan­ti­ty that pre­dicts the flow in flu­id dynam­ics. He also devel­oped the Reynolds equa­tion, which is a par­tial dif­fer­en­tial equa­tion that describes the dis­per­sal of pres­sure between the two sur­faces of a thin lubri­cant film.

His stud­ies focused on flu­id flow, which direct­ly ref­er­enced the stud­ies of fric­tion and lubri­cants and the design of bear­ings. Because of Reynolds, there became a greater under­stand­ing of the effec­tive design and appli­ca­tion of lubri­cants uti­lized in indus­tri­al machinery.

The con­tri­bu­tions of Leslie and Reynolds, along with oth­er sci­en­tists and engi­neers, helped advance the con­cepts of tri­bol­o­gy, lead­ing to sig­nif­i­cant improve­ments in the design and effi­cien­cy of indus­tri­al machin­ery. These advance­ments were essen­tial for the con­tin­ued progress of the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion, enabling more reli­able and effi­cient machines that could oper­ate at high­er speeds and under greater loads.

The study of fric­tion paved the way for mod­ern tri­bol­o­gy and its appli­ca­tions in var­i­ous indus­tries. The word Tri­bol­o­gy was cre­at­ed from the Greek word “tri­bos,” which means to rub, and and “olo­gy,” which is a branch of exper­tise. It was coined in the mid-twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry to describe this mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary field that plays a cru­cial role in engi­neer­ing and mate­r­i­al science.

As I not­ed ear­li­er, the pri­ma­ry com­po­nents of tri­bol­o­gy include fric­tion, wear, and lubri­ca­tion. Fric­tion, one of the fun­da­men­tal aspects of tri­bol­o­gy, can be ben­e­fi­cial because it can pro­vide grip, but it can also be detri­men­tal because it can destroy the sur­face and cause ener­gy loss. Wear is the grad­ual removal or defor­ma­tion of mate­r­i­al from a sur­face due to its con­stant mechan­i­cal action, which includes slid­ing, rolling, or impact­ing. This wear can lead to the degra­da­tion of machine com­po­nents, which reduces the lifes­pan of the machin­ery. Final­ly, lubri­ca­tion can include oils, greas­es, and even gas­es that oper­ate like a thin film, sep­a­rat­ing the sur­faces and reduc­ing direct contact.

PETER JOST

The term “tri­bol­o­gy” was coined by the promi­nent British physi­cist and mechan­i­cal engi­neer Peter Jost in a land­mark report pub­lished in 1966 titled Lubri­ca­tion (Tri­bol­o­gy) – A report on the present posi­tion and industry’s needs.[1] Jost was the bene­fac­tor of rais­ing aware­ness about the industry’s eco­nom­ic impact of fric­tion, wear, and lubri­ca­tion. He appren­ticed at the asso­ci­at­ed met­al­works in Glas­gow and then went to Napi­er and Sons in Liv­er­pool. In Liv­er­pool, he won the Sir John Lark­ing Medal for a paper on sur­face fin­ish mea­sure­ment. By the time he was twen­ty-nine, he was work­ing at Tri­er Broth­ers as a gen­er­al man­ag­er and worked his way up to become direc­tor. With every posi­tion he took, he con­tributed to the devel­op­ment of tri­bol­o­gy. At Tri­er Broth­ers, he sought to pre­vent the scal­ing of boil­er tubes, so he cre­at­ed a sophis­ti­cat­ed method of lubri­cat­ing steam machinery.

He even­tu­al­ly served as a direc­tor and chair­man of many engi­neer­ing com­pa­nies in Britain. He had a rich and reward­ing career with many awards. He was hon­ored by the heads of state of Aus­tria, France, Ger­many, Poland, and Japan. In 1992, he was the first hon­orary for­eign mem­ber of the Russ­ian Acad­e­my of Engi­neer­ing. He was bestowed two hon­orary pro­fes­sor­ships and eleven hon­orary doc­tor­ates, one of which includ­ed the first Mil­len­ni­um Hon­orary Sci­ence doc­tor­ate. He was a fel­low at the Insti­tu­tion of Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy, the Insti­tu­tion of Mechan­i­cal Engi­neers, and the Insti­tute of Mate­ri­als. And that is just a few of his hon­ors and dec­o­ra­tions. Sad­ly, he passed away in 2016. Even so, he still receives posthu­mous awards for his exten­sive work in engi­neer­ing and tribology.

His report, known as the “Jost Report,” empha­sized the need for sys­tem­at­ic study and appli­ca­tion of tri­bol­o­gy to reduce costs asso­ci­at­ed with machin­ery wear and ener­gy loss. The term “tri­bol­o­gy” was offi­cial­ly adopt­ed to describe this mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary field that encom­pass­es the study of fric­tion, wear, and lubri­ca­tion, mark­ing the begin­ning of tri­bol­o­gy as a rec­og­nized sci­en­tif­ic dis­ci­pline. This report was nec­es­sary for the impor­tance of this study for use in indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions like the design and main­te­nance of machin­ery and equip­ment, ener­gy effi­cien­cy, and mate­r­i­al sci­ence. The report was also nec­es­sary for study­ing the prop­er­ties of mate­ri­als, such as hard­ness, rough­ness, and chem­i­cal com­po­si­tions. Fur­ther­more, this report aid­ed in reduc­ing the envi­ron­men­tal impact that comes from replac­ing worn parts and reduc­ing the eco­log­i­cal foot­print of oils and greas­es. Final­ly, the report high­light­ed that the lack of prop­er under­stand­ing and man­age­ment of fric­tion leads to sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial loss­es in var­i­ous industries.

Jost’s report high­light­ed the eco­nom­ic impor­tance of sys­tem­at­ic research and edu­ca­tion in tri­bol­o­gy. He empha­sized the need for more focused research and devel­op­ment in tri­bol­o­gy. He iden­ti­fied gaps in exist­ing knowl­edge and research. He called for edu­ca­tion and train­ing in tri­bol­o­gy for engi­neers and sci­en­tists. He showed how the cost of edu­ca­tion would save costs for the indus­tri­al indus­tries and increase effi­cien­cy. He also called for the adop­tion of bet­ter prac­tices in lubri­ca­tion, mate­r­i­al selec­tion, and machine design. Final­ly, he called for col­lab­o­ra­tion among dif­fer­ent fields, includ­ing physics, chem­istry, mate­r­i­al sci­ence, and engi­neer­ing, to fur­ther under­stand and apply tri­bo­log­i­cal principles.

The Jost Report increased the recog­ni­tion of its impor­tance and spurred sig­nif­i­cant advance­ments in research, edu­ca­tion, and indus­try prac­tices. It helped estab­lish tri­bol­o­gy as a dis­tinct sci­en­tif­ic and engi­neer­ing discipline.

With the bur­geon­ing indus­try in aero­space and avi­a­tion in the 1960s, the study and appli­ca­tion of tri­bol­o­gy became nec­es­sary. These devel­op­ments reduced fric­tion and wear in air­craft engines, lead­ing to greater fuel effi­cien­cy, high­er pow­er out­put, and extend­ed com­po­nent lifes­pans. By under­stand­ing the mech­a­nisms of fric­tion and wear, engi­neers could cre­ate engines with low­er fric­tion­al loss­es and design com­po­nents that could bet­ter with­stand the extreme con­di­tions of high-speed and high-alti­tude flight. This process con­tributed to the over­all reli­a­bil­i­ty of air­craft and reduced the risk of mechan­i­cal fail­ures, which was cru­cial for both com­mer­cial and mil­i­tary aviation.

Tri­bol­o­gy also played a cru­cial role in enhanc­ing safe­ty and inno­va­tion with­in the indus­try. The insights gained from tri­bo­log­i­cal research enabled the devel­op­ment of pre­dic­tive main­te­nance prac­tices, allow­ing com­po­nents to be ser­viced or replaced before fail­ure, thus improv­ing air­craft safe­ty. Addi­tion­al­ly, the study of tri­bol­o­gy facil­i­tat­ed the use of lighter mate­ri­als with­out com­pro­mis­ing strength, lead­ing to weight reduc­tions that improved fuel effi­cien­cy and per­for­mance. These advance­ments in mate­r­i­al effi­cien­cy, com­bined with inno­v­a­tive designs informed by tri­bo­log­i­cal prin­ci­ples, helped dri­ve the tech­no­log­i­cal progress of the aero­space and avi­a­tion indus­tries dur­ing this piv­otal era.

Today, in nan­otech­nol­o­gy and micro-electro­mechan­i­cal sys­tems (MEMS), tri­bol­o­gy pro­vides essen­tial insights into man­ag­ing fric­tion, wear, and lubri­ca­tion at micro­scop­ic scales. The ongo­ing research in tri­bol­o­gy con­tin­ues to dri­ve inno­va­tions in both areas, address­ing the unique chal­lenges posed by the nanoscale and microm­e­ter-scale environments.

It’s fas­ci­nat­ing to see where we will go with the study of tri­bol­o­gy. In nan­otech­nol­o­gy, tra­di­tion­al lubri­cants may not work effec­tive­ly at the nanoscale. Tri­bol­o­gists now inves­ti­gate alter­na­tive lubri­ca­tion meth­ods, such as mol­e­c­u­lar-scale lubri­cants or self-lubri­cat­ing mate­ri­als to reduce fric­tion and wear in nan­ode­vices. Inte­grat­ing tri­bol­o­gy with Atom­ic Force Microscopy (AFM) has enabled nan­otri­bol­o­gy and microtri­bol­o­gy research, which focus­es on fric­tion and wear at the nanome­ter scale. This research con­tributes to devel­op­ing new mate­ri­als and coat­ings with improved tri­bo­log­i­cal properties.

Addi­tion­al­ly, research into inno­v­a­tive and adap­tive lubri­cants that respond to chang­ing con­di­tions like tem­per­a­ture and pres­sure con­tin­ue to evolve even at the nano and micro scale. This research has led to the devel­op­ment of nanoflu­ids, which are sus­pen­sions of nanopar­ti­cles in con­ven­tion­al lubri­cants. And now, with arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, machine learn­ing, and quan­tum com­put­ing, we can make fur­ther advance­ments in nano and microtri­bol­o­gy, com­pu­ta­tion­al mod­el­ing, and simulation.

Image from scan­ning elec­tron micro­scope, which shows sele­ni­um nanopar­ti­cles, eject­ed dur­ing fem­tosec­ond laser abla­tion of bulk sele­ni­um tar­get in dis­tilled water. This image cap­tured the process of sub­se­quent nanopar­ti­cles’ frag­men­ta­tion — the emerg­ing “ears” on shper­i­cal nanoparticles

GREEN TRIBOLOGY

Devel­op­ments in green tri­bol­o­gy focus on devel­op­ing eco-friend­ly lubri­cants and mate­ri­als that min­i­mize envi­ron­men­tal impact. These devel­op­ments include biodegrad­able lubri­cants and mate­ri­als that reduce ener­gy con­sump­tion and waste. Cur­rent­ly, tri­bo­log­i­cal research sup­ports advance­ments in renew­able ener­gy tech­nolo­gies, includ­ing wind tur­bines and hydro­elec­tric sys­tems. It plays a role in devel­op­ing med­ical implants, pros­thet­ics, and diag­nos­tic tools. And how could we for­get 3D print­ing? Tri­bol­o­gy con­tributes to the devel­op­ment of mate­ri­als and sur­face treat­ments for the dura­bil­i­ty of print­ed com­po­nents. The study of tri­bol­o­gy has expand­ed into areas unimag­in­able. From the indus­tri­al rev­o­lu­tion to space flight to health care, this study and all its appli­ca­tions are chang­ing how we operate.

As we look to the future, we envi­sion a world where tri­bo­log­i­cal research dri­ves the devel­op­ment of more inno­v­a­tive, effi­cient, and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly tech­nolo­gies for trans­form­ing health­care. Imag­ine tri­bol­o­gy enhanc­ing the per­for­mance of med­ical implants, pros­thet­ics, and diag­nos­tic tools, mak­ing them more depend­able and effec­tive. The quest for reduced fric­tion, min­i­mized wear, and opti­mal lubri­ca­tion promis­es to rev­o­lu­tion­ize our every­day devices and improve patient outcomes.

Though often behind the scenes, the field of tri­bol­o­gy is piv­otal to advanc­ing tech­nol­o­gy and indus­try. From its roots in ancient mechan­i­cal stud­ies to its inno­v­a­tive appli­ca­tions in nan­otech­nol­o­gy and sus­tain­able inno­va­tions, tri­bol­o­gy con­tin­ues to evolve and inspire. By embrac­ing the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties ahead, we can har­ness the pow­er of tri­bol­o­gy to cre­ate a future where tech­no­log­i­cal progress aligns seam­less­ly with our pur­suit of mechan­i­cal sus­tain­abil­i­ty, tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion, and advanced health­care. When it aligns and per­forms pow­er­ful­ly togeth­er, it’s like that impec­ca­ble oper­a­tion of tri­bol­o­gy, where fric­tion becomes min­i­mal, and our advance­ments become unstoppable.

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Ref­er­ences for Fur­ther Reading

1. Book: Mac­Cur­dy, Edward. The Note­books of Leonar­do da Vin­ci. Rey­nal & Hitch­cock, 1938. 
   1. This book offers trans­la­tions and dis­cus­sions of Leonardo’s note­books, includ­ing his work on friction.
2. Arti­cle: Dow­son, Dun­can. “His­to­ry of Tri­bol­o­gy.” Pro­ceed­ings of the Insti­tu­tion of Mechan­i­cal Engi­neers, vol. 196, no. 1, 1982, pp. 363–378.
   1. This arti­cle reviews the his­to­ry of tri­bol­o­gy, includ­ing Leonardo’s con­tri­bu­tions to under­stand­ing friction.
3. Book: Dow­son, Dun­can. His­to­ry of Tri­bol­o­gy. Long­man, 1979. 
   1. This book offers a com­pre­hen­sive his­to­ry of the study of fric­tion, includ­ing Amon­tons’ contributions.

Books and Arti­cles on Tribology

1. “Tri­bol­o­gy: Fric­tion and Wear of Engi­neer­ing Mate­ri­als” by John Williams
   1. This book pro­vides a com­pre­hen­sive overview of tri­bo­log­i­cal prin­ci­ples and their appli­ca­tions in engineering.
2. “Intro­duc­tion to Tri­bol­o­gy” by Bhushan Bharat
   1. A detailed intro­duc­tion to the field of tri­bol­o­gy, cov­er­ing fun­da­men­tal con­cepts and recent advancements.
3. “Engi­neer­ing Tri­bol­o­gy” by G. W. Sta­chowiak and A. W. Batchelor
   1. A prac­ti­cal guide to tri­bo­log­i­cal prin­ci­ples and their engi­neer­ing applications.
4. “The Jost Report: Tri­bol­o­gy and Its Role in Industry”
   1. The sem­i­nal report by Peter Jost high­lights the eco­nom­ic impact of fric­tion, wear, and lubrication.

Key His­tor­i­cal Fig­ures and Concepts

Resources on Nan­otri­bol­o­gy and MEMS

1. “Nan­otri­bol­o­gy: The Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy of Nanome­ter-Scale Fric­tion and Wear” by J. A. Greenwood
   1. Focus­es on tri­bo­log­i­cal phe­nom­e­na at the nanoscale and their tech­no­log­i­cal implications.
2. “Micro-Electro­mechan­i­cal Sys­tems (MEMS): Tech­nol­o­gy and Appli­ca­tions” by Moham­mad I. Younis
   1. Cov­ers the role of tri­bol­o­gy in MEMS, includ­ing fric­tion and wear issues spe­cif­ic to micro-scale systems.

Health­care Appli­ca­tions of Tribology

1. “Tri­bol­o­gy in Bio­med­ical Engi­neer­ing and Med­ical Devices” by K. J. Bathe
   1. Explores how tri­bo­log­i­cal prin­ci­ples are applied to improve med­ical devices and implants.
2. “Advances in Bio­med­ical Engi­neer­ing and Med­ical Devices” by H. H. Liu
   1. Dis­cuss­es var­i­ous engi­neer­ing inno­va­tions, includ­ing tri­bo­log­i­cal advance­ments in health­care applications.

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[1] Great Britain Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion and Sci­ence. Lubri­ca­tion (Tri­bol­o­gy), Edu­ca­tion and Research; a Report on the Present Posi­tion and Industry’s Needs. Lon­don: H.M. Sta­tionery Off., 1966.