Introduction

Tribology is the essential science of all interacting surfaces in relative motion. Tribology affects our lives in many direct ways and is core to future transport and energy efficient machines, the control of emissions and low maintenance renewable energy systems, to the efficacy and performance of joint implants, and the operation of mircoelectromechanical devices.

This Faraday Discussion will focus on advanced computational and experimental tribology combining multiscale modelling, analytical and experimental techniques to develop a better understanding of tribological processes at the molecular, micro and nano scales and the use of this understanding to link this to micro-system performance as well as predictive models concerned with macro contact.

The Scientific Committee warmly invites you to take part in the Discussion and looks forward to welcoming you to Southampton.  

Aims

Over the last 10 years there have been enormous advances in experimental techniques to study interfaces at the molecular scale (in situ spectroscopies, various scanning probe techniques, applications of synchotron radiation), in studies of the chemical modification of surfaces, and in theoretical and computational approaches (molecular mechanics, density functional theory) to modelling interfaces on the molecular scale. 

The aim of this Discussion is to bring together advances in these diverse aspects, all of which bear directly on the topic of tribology, by providing a forum for discussion between chemists, physicists, theoreticians, engineers and biomedical researchers. 

Themes 

• Future lubricated systems 
  
• Smart tribological surfaces 
  
• Predictive modelling 
  
• Biotribology                  

Scientific Committee

Professor Robert Wood (Director of nCATS, University of Southampton, UK) (Chair)
Professor Colin Bain (Durham University, UK)
Professor Philip Bartlett (University of Southampton, UK)
Professor Stefano Mischler (EPFL, Switzerland)
Professor Anne Neville (University of Leeds, UK)
Dr Kathryn Wahl (US Naval Research Laboratory)
Professor John Williams (University of Cambridge, UK)

Co-sponsor

We would like to thank the following organisations for their support of Faraday Discussion 156.