Tribochemistry of Materials

Tribochemistry refers to the contact chemistry occurs inside the wearing interface under boundary lubricated conditions. Since lubrication chemistry has been dominated by hydrocarbon-steel chemistry, other chemistry between insulators, semiconductors, carbon films and lubricants has not been explored extensively. As new materials continue to evolve spurred by increasingly sophisticated means to control atoms, molecules, and microstructures, how to lubricate these new materials has become an important technological barrier for materials utilization and new technology development. This paper addresses the basic known information of tribochemistry with materials and describes the various measurement techniques that can be used to understand tribochemistry with various classes of materials.