Tribology meets sustainability

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to present a comprehensive perspective on how tribology and sustainability are related and intertwined and are linked to CO2 emissions. This paper emphasizes on how tribological aspects affect everybody’s life and how tribological research and progress can improve energy efficiency, sustainability and quality of life. Design/methodology/approach Based upon available data and predictions for the next 50 years, the potential of tribological research and development is addressed. Findings The effects of tribological design can significantly increase energy savings and reduce CO2 emissions. Taking advantage of tribological technologies and applying them to current infrastructure would have the largest energy savings coming from the transportation and power generation at 25% and 20%, respectively. Implementing these technologies can also cut down global CO2 emissions by about 1,460 megatons of CO2 per year in the immediate future and 3,140 megatons of CO2 per year in the long term. The extraction and processing of resources inevitably generates CO2. Doubling the lifetime of machine components and the use of circular economy reduces the material footprint with associated reductions in CO2. Originality/value This perspective summarizes concisely the interrelation of tribology and sustainability with CO2. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-09-2020-0356/

Tribochemistry, Mechanical Alloying, Mechanochemistry: What is in a Name?

“…Tribology-the term introduced by Jost (Jost, 1990) in the 1960s-remains by far the most popular term to date, while mechanochemistry is much less used than tribology, or mechanical alloying. While the organic chemistry community appears to favor the term mechanochemistry, the terms tribology and tribochemistry are more popular amongst chemical engineers and the materials science community (Huq et al, 2020;Rosenkranz et al, 2020;Rosenkranz et al, 2021). In addition, the term mechanical activation is widely used in relation to thermal reactions that are facilitated by mechanical pre-treatment (Pavljukhin et al, 1983;Pavlyukhin et al, 1984;Boldyrev, 1996;Šepelák et al, 1996;Boldyrev, 1998;Boldyrev, 2006;Kumar et al, 2019;Singla et al, 2020).…”

Recent Advances in Preparation and Testing Methods of Engine-Based Nanolubricants: A State-of-the-Art Review

“…This returns to the superior tribological and thermal properties of those lubricants, which are typically linked to the improvement of the engine efficiency, in terms of brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) [4,68]. Interestingly, nanolubricants can afford a delicate balance between tribology and sustainability, to minimize the environmental effects of carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions [2,70,164,165]. In a recent study by Kamal [25], a hybrid nanolubricant of Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 , with a concentration of 0.1 wt.%, showed an improvement in brake thermal efficiency, in the range of 3.9-8.6%, concerning the base engine lubricant of SAE 20 W-40.…”

“…This appears as a crucial challenge regarding the enhancement of vehicular tribology and fuel consumption [1]. This corresponds to energy conservation demands and the lessening of greenhouse gas emissions in the light of the Paris protocols on climate change [2][3][4]. A direct strategy to address this situation is to promote fuel economy, which is the primary driving force behind the improvement in modern combustion engines' performances [5].…”

Investigation of the Tribological Behavior of Mineral Lubricant Using Copper Oxide Nano Additives

“…The fundamental concept of all mentioned nanomaterials in different lubricant studies aims to reduce the irreversible losses through friction and wear arising from many sorts of machines and instruments. This is to balance the incrementalism demands of efficient energy production and minimize its drawbacks on the environment [29]. To bridge this gap, designing machinery with low friction losses is the primary requirement for a potential reduction in energy loss of 40% over the upcoming 15 years [2].…”