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AUSTRIB’02: Frontiers in Tribology, Perth, December 2002
Wear 256 (2004) 577
Guest editorial
AUSTRIB’02: Frontiers in Tribology, Perth, December 2002
Tribology is as old as human culture yet it is considered to be a science of the future. Delegates attending the sixth International Tribology Conference, AUSTRIB’02, gathered together in Perth, WA, in December 2002, in a setting where the ancient culture of the Aborigines coexists with a modern culture in a young, future-oriented country. Subconsciously, perhaps, this immersion in a situation where ancient problems require innovative new solutions has stirred the creativity of many Australian researchers in tribology. Australia is the home country of Philip Bowden, who developed much of the theory of friction and lubrication by adsorbed films, and Anthony Michell, who developed pivoted pad thrust bearings and greatly contributed to the theory of hydrodynamic lubrication. Melbourne was, for many years, the home of the Lubricants and Bearings Section at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, later converted to a Tribophysics Laboratory and managed by Philip Bowden and David Tabor. Tribology contributes in many ways to the advances of our highly technological society. The development of high speed trains, aircraft, space stations, computer hard discs, artificial implants, and many other engineering and bio-medical systems has only been possible through the advances in tribology. As our society advances new problems and challenges arise. These problems require special solutions and new approaches so the research work continues. There are also some global concerns such as the provision of adequate means of mobility to the majority of the world’s population and the availability of sufficient electric power to allow
0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2003.10.028
people to pursue a civilized life. Tribology in its own way makes a vital contribution to these diametrically different sets of problems. The mitigation of friction wastage inside power generating units and within combustion engines is an equally challenging problem to controlling friction in information storage devices. The AUSTRIB series of conferences is convened in the spirit of international cooperation and sharing the latest research results and ideas in tribology, thus facilitating the solution of technical problems for the advancement of humankind. The sixth International Tribology Conference, AUSTRIB’02, has drawn together the engineers and scientists interested in tribological problems and many papers from all corners of the world were presented. The topics of more than 100 papers presented ranged from applications of tribology in nuclear reactors to bio-medicine reflecting the multidisciplinary character of this area of science. A sample of these papers, with a specific reference to wear, has been assembled in this special issue of Wear which, I hope, will provide stimulating reading to all people with an interest in tribology. G. Stachowiak School of Mechanical Engineering University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley Perth, WA 6009, Australia Tel.: +61-8-9380-3119; fax: +61-8-9380-1024 E-mail address: [email protected]
Guest editorial
AUSTRIB’02: Frontiers in Tribology, Perth, December 2002
Tribology is as old as human culture yet it is considered to be a science of the future. Delegates attending the sixth International Tribology Conference, AUSTRIB’02, gathered together in Perth, WA, in December 2002, in a setting where the ancient culture of the Aborigines coexists with a modern culture in a young, future-oriented country. Subconsciously, perhaps, this immersion in a situation where ancient problems require innovative new solutions has stirred the creativity of many Australian researchers in tribology. Australia is the home country of Philip Bowden, who developed much of the theory of friction and lubrication by adsorbed films, and Anthony Michell, who developed pivoted pad thrust bearings and greatly contributed to the theory of hydrodynamic lubrication. Melbourne was, for many years, the home of the Lubricants and Bearings Section at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, later converted to a Tribophysics Laboratory and managed by Philip Bowden and David Tabor. Tribology contributes in many ways to the advances of our highly technological society. The development of high speed trains, aircraft, space stations, computer hard discs, artificial implants, and many other engineering and bio-medical systems has only been possible through the advances in tribology. As our society advances new problems and challenges arise. These problems require special solutions and new approaches so the research work continues. There are also some global concerns such as the provision of adequate means of mobility to the majority of the world’s population and the availability of sufficient electric power to allow
0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2003.10.028
people to pursue a civilized life. Tribology in its own way makes a vital contribution to these diametrically different sets of problems. The mitigation of friction wastage inside power generating units and within combustion engines is an equally challenging problem to controlling friction in information storage devices. The AUSTRIB series of conferences is convened in the spirit of international cooperation and sharing the latest research results and ideas in tribology, thus facilitating the solution of technical problems for the advancement of humankind. The sixth International Tribology Conference, AUSTRIB’02, has drawn together the engineers and scientists interested in tribological problems and many papers from all corners of the world were presented. The topics of more than 100 papers presented ranged from applications of tribology in nuclear reactors to bio-medicine reflecting the multidisciplinary character of this area of science. A sample of these papers, with a specific reference to wear, has been assembled in this special issue of Wear which, I hope, will provide stimulating reading to all people with an interest in tribology. G. Stachowiak School of Mechanical Engineering University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley Perth, WA 6009, Australia Tel.: +61-8-9380-3119; fax: +61-8-9380-1024 E-mail address: [email protected]