Topic 8: Tribochemistry

While both of us work extensively in the area of tribology, we were both originally trained as chemists, so that the interplay between tribology and chemistry is particularly close to our hearts. While the chemistry occurring at a sliding interface is central to understanding tribological phenomena in the boundary-lubrication regime, as surface asperities come into contact during sliding, this is perhaps the most challenging area of tribology due to the difficulty of seeing what is happening in this sliding interface…