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ABSTRACTThe static friction of steel under boundary lubricated conditions was investigated both experimentally and theoretically.The theoretical model was developed using the assumption that during the application of a tangential load to a friction couple, the real area of contact grows in a viscoelastic manner until a critical shear stress is reached. Using this model, it was possible to distin-i i i Both the experimental and theoretical work clearly demonstrate that the static friction of steel can be significantly modified by the application of appropriate boundary lubricants.