Tribology

Tribology describes the study of the friction of two surfaces in relative motion. It primarily describes the wear of surfaces and represents a daily challenge for heat treaters worldwide. Wear can never be completely prevented, but only slowed down. 

There are 4 basic mechanisms that lead to wear:

• Abrasion (scratches, scoring)
• Adhesion (material transfer, cold welding, scaling)
• Tribochemical reactions (combination of corrosion and mechanical removal)
• Surface fatigue (tongues, cracks, breakage)

With most real wear damage, the 4 basic wear mechanisms rarely occur in pure form. In a tribological system, several mechanisms usually act simultaneously or offset in time, with different proportions and can change over the duration of the load. In order to improve the wear behavior in a tribological system, the exact analysis of the entire system and the derivation of corresponding countermeasures is necessary. The RUBIG Competence Center, short RCC, combines materials science with the practical experience of metal finishing and processing and is specialized on tribological investigations. Customers worldwide benefit from the exact analysis capabilities, the well-founded know-how and the resulting reliable and specific advice.