58 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 T R I B O L O G Y & L U B R I C A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y

Controllable bearing technology. Thelong-term effects include improved sta-bility of the rotordynamic system,improved load capacity of the bearing,reduced equipment wear and extendedequipment life and improved safety.

•

Base oils. With the wide selection of baseoils in the marketplace, we need to knowmore about the advantages and/or disad-vantages of upgrading existing refineriesto the higher group of base oils.

•

A universal oil that could be used intransmissions, engines, gearboxes,hydraulics and bearings—and be foodgrade, fire resistant and biodegradable.

•

Research to develop highly efficient fuelsand lubricant additives in order to greatlyincrease the efficiency of equipment andreduce fuel consumption and air-pollut-ing emissions.

•

I would have an online particle counterinstalled on our most critical equipment.This would allow us to monitor and trend

Sounding Board

Research is a topic near and dear to the

hearts of TLT readers—a record 255 of

them answered this month’s question.

Top vote-getters for areas deserving

more research funding included biotri-

bology, environmentally fluids and syn-

thetics. Are tribologists underappreciat-

ed? 42% of them say the main obstacle

preventing more research is “lack of

understanding about or appreciation of

tribology.” And 75% of respondents say

there is not enough tribology research

being conducted today.

>> If you had a large sum of money that youcould dedicate to any one area of tribologyresearch or a tribology project, whichwould you choose and why? <<

Based on responses from 255 TLT readers. Total exceeds 100% because readers were asked to choose their topthree choices.

Based on responses from 255 TLT readers. Total exceeds 100% because some readers chose more than one answer.

Other

Synthetic lubricants

Solid lubricants

Sealing tribology

MF fluids: non-ferrous metals

MW fluids: ferrous metals

Medical tribology/biomedical systems

Hydraulics

Grease

Gears and gear lubrication

Environmentally friendly fluids

Engine/drive train tribology

Condition monitoring/predictive maintenance

Ceramics and composites

Bearings and bearing lubrication

Aerospace 10%

27%

20%

24%

29%

35%

15%

9%

10%

22%

12%

11%

14%

13%

29%

12%

Which of the following areas do you think would yield the most beneficialresults if they received more funding for research? Choose up to three.

Which one of the following factors do you think is most responsiblefor current deficiencies in tribology R&D?

Lack of corporate funding 25%

Lack of government funding 12%

Lack of private funding 6%

Lack or imminent loss of experienced researchers 9%

Lack of qualified incoming research staff 13%

Lack of understanding about or appreciation of tribology 42%

Equipment inadequacies/shortages 2%

Lack of standard test methodologies 7%

Lack of important questions left to solve 2%

Other 8%

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T R I B O L O G Y & L U B R I C A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 59

the oil at the drains. From a predic-tive and real-time standpoint, this isthe only major parameter for whichwe lack real-time data.

•

Nanotribology, in particular nanoad-ditives. Today’s lube additive technol-ogy is grossly inefficient. Most of thechemical makeup of additives ishydrocarbon chains required to solu-bilize the functional portion of theadditive. EP and antiwear additivesare examples.

•

Training for employees taking sam-ples. All the money spent on testequipment doesn’t mean anything ifthe sample isn’t representative of theoil in use.

•

Microlubricants for both cutting andforming metals. This technologyeliminates most of the major prob-lems experienced by the end-usersuch as corrosion, waste, prematureshelf life and hazardous materials.

•

Synthetics. More products are mov-ing toward extended drain or fill forlife while having to perform under awider range of temperatures andvarying degrees of loads.

•

The efficacy of ceramic-engineeringplastic composites as they might beapplied to higher-temperature pis-ton-bore boundary conditions in ICengines, exotic high-pressure hydrau-lic systems, etc. The idea is to under-stand and improve basic materialself-lubrication while increasing heattransfer away from marginally lubri-cated regions and improving thestructural integrity and endurance ofthe resulting system.

•

Air bearings for transportation. Theresearch could be applied to people-moving sidewalks or mass convey-ors/ferries that would move carsalong common stretches of freeways.

Dynamic viscosity. We measure vis-cosity and try to define its impor-tance in the lubrication of compo-nents, but we never really know howit will react under load for differentfilm thicknesses and resistance. Thebenefits would make for more effi-cient lubricating films with lowerplanning resistances.

•

Technology transfer. Academics andindustry researchers are still not get-ting the message through to machinedesigners and manufacturing units.Too much emphasis is placed onanalysis of elements and not enoughon synthesis of systems.

•

Micropitting in gear teeth. This seemsto be a more relevant topic with thecontinual emergence of wind turbines.

•

Lubricant degradation in pistonassemblies. There needs to be moreresearch into the residence time inand flow rates through the pistonassembly as well as the rate of degra-dation when in the ring zone. This,linked with chemical analysis andstudy, will aid in understanding howlubricants degrade.

•

I would look for a solid-lubricatedbushing to replace rolling elementbearings in low-speed, high-load ap-plications. I believe the potential ex-ists in diamond-like carbon coatings.

•

A program to understand the flow ofthe air-oil mix in gearboxes andsumps. An analytical modelingprocess that could predict flows andchurning losses could be used to opti-mize designs at much lower cost andschedule time than current methods.

•

Oil analysis. There have not beenmany new things in the industry, andI feel that a large sum of moneywould provide the much-neededresearch in this area.

Biotribology. The improvements in kneejoints, hip joints and the like wouldbenefit large numbers of people.

•

Energy-efficient test procedures. Weneed a standard test.

•

Sliding friction. We deal a lot withdrawing and stamping operations.The goal would be to develop more ap-plication and cost-effective products.

•

Education. There are still too manypeople at all levels of manufacturing,from lubricators to vice presidents,who don’t understand the impor-tance of proper lubrication.

•

Filtration. Most new equipmentdoesn’t even have filters. Anythingbigger than 15 microns can do dam-age to bearings. Without good filters,companies are crashing equipment—without even understanding why! <<

Editor’s note: Sounding Board is based onan e-mail survey of 7,200 TLT readers.Views expressed are those of the respondentsand do not reflect the opinions of the Societyof Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.STLE does not vouch for the technical accu-racy of opinions expressed in SoundingBoard, nor does inclusion of a comment rep-resent an endorsement of the technology bySTLE.

Generally speaking, do you think theamount of research being conducted inall areas of tribology today is:

75%Too

little

0% Too much

25%Aboutright

Based on responses from 255 TLT readers.

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