Tribology is the science, engineering, and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It evolved from the classical fields of friction, lubrication, and wear, and has been a significant research area in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech for over two decades. The initial interests of the Tribology Group were in the study of the sliding and rolling of the concentrated contacts that occur in rolling element bearings, cams, and gears. The group then began to study the thermal and frictional aspects of concentrated contacts, together with the rheological behavior of the lubricants (and additives) used in those contacts. An important development was the discovery that the friction in the concentrated contact derives from slip within the liquid lubricant film along shear bands, which operate at a critical shear stress. Subsequently, the group studied the wear that occurs in both dry and lubricated sliding 

conditions.

We are undertaking extensive efforts in the areas of seal technology, tribological behavior of computer disk drives, rotordynamics, friction-induced vibration, infrared thermometry, high and low pressure rheology, thermo-mechanical wear theory, and the polishing of semiconductors for the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Some of this work is being done within the NSF Center for Engineering Tribology, which is a joint effort with the Manufacturing Group in collaboration with Northwestern University.

Our most recent research thrust is in the area of integrated diagnostics. This includes developing the means of detecting the precursors to failures in tribological systems, monitoring the condition of those systems in real time, and preventing failures. This work is being done within the Multi-University Center for Integrated Diagnostics, which is a collaborative effort with Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota, based at Georgia Tech.

Most of the work carried out by the Tribology Group is of a basic nature, leading to an understanding of the complex tribological reactions that occur in the microcosm of the real areas of contact and thin lubricating films between surfaces in relative motion.