Advances in lubrication and damage prevention

This topic intends to capture the ongoing tribological challenges faced by advancing industries with complex machinery and applications. Despite substantial research and improvements in understanding tribological damage mechanisms such as micropitting, pitting, WEC, fretting, starved lubrication, and electrical damages, we still encounter these issues and their intricate dynamics, particularly in grease-lubricated tribosystems.

In addition, there is a need for extensive research on how lubricants and additives respond to electrical loads and interact with various engineering materials, thereby contributing to tribofilm formation and methods for damage prevention.

We hereby invite you to contribute articles that further illuminate these wear forms, especially fretting, micropitting, pitting, WEC, and electrical damages, for both grease and oil-lubricated tribosystems, as well as lubricant-surface interactions. This collection should not be limited to these topics, but they do form the core of our interest.

Potential solutions to these problems may include, but are not limited to:
1. Optimised base oils and additives
2. Advanced coatings
3. Improved surface treatments or conditioning
4. Novel materials
5. Modelling of lubricants and lubricated contacts
6. Optimized operating conditions

We are also interested in the following sub-themes, aiming to promote a more comprehensive understanding of current tribological challenges:

1. Grease or oil-lubricated contacts
2. Surface interactions of additives and base oils, under electrical or non-electrical loading
3. Prevention mechanisms for surface damages, reducing surface pitting, micro pitting, WEC, hydrogen-induced damages
4. Vibratory or impact-loaded applications
5. Technologies for optimising friction in lubricated contacts
6. Sealing tribology
7. Bearing and gear-related technologies

Through a range of articles on these issues, we aim to substantially advance the comprehension and resolution of these evolving tribological challenges in contemporary industries.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Lubrication, tribology, micropitting, pitting, fretting, wear, WEC (white etching cracks), electrical damage

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.