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P R E FAC E
Green tribology
Tribology (from the Greek word trı́bu ‘tribo’ meaning ‘to rub’) is the
interdisciplinary area of science and technology that involves studies of the
interaction of solid surfaces in their relative motion. Typical tribological studies
cover friction, wear, lubrication and adhesion, and involve the efforts of
mechanical engineers, material scientists, chemists and physicists. Since a strong
need for tribology began with the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, many
new areas of tribological studies have been suggested, which are at the interface
of various scientific disciplines. These areas include nanotribology, biotribology,
the tribology of magnetic storage devices and micro/nanoelectromechanical
systems. The research in these areas is driven mostly by the advent of new
technologies and new experimental techniques for surface characterization.
Green tribology is a new, separate, research area that is emerging, and it is
defined as the science and technology of the tribological aspects of ecological
balance and of environmental and biological impacts. There are a number of
tribological problems that can be put under the umbrella of green tribology,
and they are of mutual benefit to one another. These problems include
tribological technology, which mimics living nature (biomimetic surfaces) and
thus is expected to be environment friendly, the control of friction and wear,
which is of importance for energy conservation and conversion, environmental
aspects of lubrication and surface modification techniques and tribological
aspects of green applications such as wind-power turbines, tidal turbines or
solar panels.
The present Theme Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
is the first volume on green tribology ever published. It was a great honour and
pleasure for us to work on editing this issue. We invited prominent experts
in various areas that fit the definition of green tribology. The international
group of authors represents tribologists from the US, the UK, Canada,
China and Israel. The topics covered in this issue include a biomimetic
approach in tribology and other environment-friendly technology biodegradable
lubrication and applications such as renewable energy sources. We would like
to thank our colleagues, the authors, who responded to our invitations and
contributed to this issue. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the
editorial board members of Philosophical Transactions A, who recognized the
importance of green tribology and agreed to dedicate the Theme Issue to this
new discipline.