Tribology in Industry

Introduction

Tribology is often introduced as the science of friction, wear, and lubrication. In industry, however, its role extends far beyond measuring a coefficient of friction or selecting a lubricant. Tribology connects materials, surfaces, lubrication, operating conditions, testing, and component performance to solve real engineering problems.

This was the central message of TriboNet’s recent webinar, “Tribology in Industry,” presented by Dr. Kuldeep Mistry on September 11, 2026. With more than 19 years of research and development experience spanning Chevron, Timken, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of Leeds, Dr. Mistry shared his personal tribology journey and a series of industrial case studies covering automotive drivetrains, heavy-duty engines, electric vehicles, bearings, wind turbines, advanced materials, and sustainability.

Rather than presenting tribology as an isolated laboratory discipline, the webinar demonstrated how fundamental tribological knowledge can be translated into better efficiency, durability, reliability, and product development decisions.

From Academic Research to Industrial Tribology

Dr. Mistry’s journey into tribology began during his PhD at the University of Leeds, where his research focused on the tribochemical interactions of gear lubricants with ferrous surfaces and diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings. His research involved lubricant additives, DLC coatings, tribological characterization, and different experimental testing methods.

The work addressed an important industrial question: how do lubricant formulations interact with different engineered surfaces?

During his research, Dr. Mistry investigated individual and combined additive chemistries, including zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP), corrosion inhibitors, extreme-pressure additives, and friction modifiers. He also evaluated different test methods, including ball-on-disk testing, Mini Traction Machine (MTM) testing, and other surface characterization techniques.

The research highlighted why DLC coatings are particularly interesting in tribology. DLC coatings are generally associated with low friction and high wear resistance, but their performance depends on the complete tribological system, including the lubricant and counterface. TriboNet’s article on the Tribology of Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) Coatings provides additional background on the friction and wear behavior of these coatings.

One of the important findings from Dr. Mistry’s work was that the same additive chemistry can behave very differently depending on the surface. An extreme-pressure additive, for example, increased wear on steel in one set of conditions while reducing both friction and wear when interacting with a DLC coating. This demonstrated that lubricant performance cannot be considered independently from surface chemistry.

Why Additive–Surface Interactions Matter

A recurring theme throughout the webinar was tribochemistry: the interaction between lubricant chemistry, surfaces, and mechanical conditions.

When multiple additives are combined, their performance is not necessarily the simple sum of their individual effects. As Dr. Mistry explained, additives can interact synergistically or antagonistically because surface-active molecules compete for interaction with the surface. The resulting tribochemical film can therefore have better or worse performance depending on the combination of additives and operating conditions.

This is especially important under boundary and extreme-pressure lubrication conditions, where direct surface interactions become increasingly significant.

The webinar therefore emphasized the importance of understanding not only lubricant formulation but also the surface itself. Material type, coating, roughness, contact conditions, load, speed, temperature, and lubrication regime can all influence the final friction and wear behavior.

Connecting Laboratory Tests to Real-World Applications

One of the strongest messages from the webinar was that laboratory testing is only valuable when it helps explain what happens in the real application.

In automotive tribology, for example, fuel efficiency is an important target for both vehicle manufacturers and lubricant suppliers. But achieving lower friction is not the only consideration. Lubricants must also meet regulatory requirements, satisfy customer expectations, provide durability, and remain commercially viable. Some industrial engine tests can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, while complete development programs can reach millions of dollars.

This makes carefully designed bench testing particularly valuable.

Dr. Mistry emphasized starting with the fundamentals: identifying the components involved, lubrication regions, loads, speeds, temperatures, environmental conditions, and aging or oxidation behavior. These factors can then be connected to lubrication regimes such as boundary, mixed, elastohydrodynamic (EHL), and hydrodynamic lubrication.

This systems-based approach helps engineers design laboratory tests that are more representative of the actual application.

Electrification Is Creating New Tribology Challenges

The transition to electric vehicles is also changing the requirements placed on lubricants and tribological systems.

Dr. Mistry discussed how electric drivetrains introduce requirements that differ from those of traditional internal combustion engines. EV fluids may need to provide low viscosity, cooling performance, electrical compatibility, copper compatibility, corrosion protection, and protection under high-speed and potentially starved lubrication conditions.

These challenges are also discussed in TriboNet’s article “Lubricants in Electric Vehicles”, which examines the thermal, electrical, and material-compatibility requirements of EV lubricants.

Tribology remains important even as conventional engines are replaced by electric powertrains. Bearings, gears, shafts, and other moving components still experience friction, wear, contact stresses, and lubrication challenges. In fact, higher rotational speeds and new material combinations can introduce additional problems.

For example, rolling contact fatigue can lead to surface and subsurface crack initiation, micropitting, and spalling. Lubricant film thickness, surface properties, and residual stresses can all influence these processes.

TriboNet has also explored these issues in its webinar on Tribology in E-Mobility, which examines the tribological challenges associated with electric powertrains.

Bearing Refurbishment as a Sustainability Strategy

One particularly interesting example from the webinar involved bearing refurbishment.

Bearings showing surface or subsurface damage are often removed from service because engineers may not want to risk an unexpected failure. However, Dr. Mistry described work investigating whether controlled material removal through grinding and surface finishing could restore damaged bearings.

The research examined different refurbishment depths and compared simulation results with experimental work. The findings indicated that, when the appropriate amount of material is removed and the surface is restored correctly, bearing life can potentially be extended significantly.

This connects tribology directly with sustainability. Extending the service life of an existing component can reduce material consumption, manufacturing demand, waste, and the environmental impact associated with producing replacement components.

Grease Selection and Bearing Reliability

Another major case study focused on bearings operating in demanding industrial environments.

In one application involving continuous casting equipment, bearings experienced high loads, high temperatures, and water ingress. The customer wanted a data-driven recommendation because the existing grease was associated with performance problems. Testing different grease technologies showed that selecting a more appropriate grease could increase bearing life by approximately three times compared with the customer’s existing lubricant.

The investigation considered factors such as elemental composition, water behavior, oil bleed properties, and grease performance.

This case demonstrates why grease selection cannot be reduced to simply choosing a lubricant with a particular viscosity or consistency. Grease structure, thickener chemistry, base oil, additives, temperature, contamination, and operating conditions all contribute to performance.

TriboNet’s Grease Lubricant: Essential Mechanisms and Selection Guide provides further information on how grease works, including the roles of base oil, thickener, additives, consistency, oil release, and operating conditions.

Tribology as a System Science

Near the end of the presentation, Dr. Mistry summarized the broader lessons from his career.

Effective industrial tribology requires engineers to understand the failure mechanism, characterize the interface, investigate lubricant and surface chemistry, engineer additives and materials, develop appropriate laboratory tests, and ultimately connect laboratory observations with real-world durability.

This means that tribology cannot be isolated from other disciplines. Chemistry, materials science, mechanical engineering, surface engineering, testing, data analysis, and application engineering all contribute to the final result.

A microscopic change at an interface can have a major impact on component efficiency and service life.

What Will AI Mean for Tribologists?

The final discussion of the webinar addressed one of the most current questions facing engineering: the role of artificial intelligence.

When asked whether AI could eventually replace or reduce the role of tribologists, Dr. Mistry described AI more as a tool and partner than a threat. He emphasized that companies possess proprietary information, including formulation chemistry and other data that cannot simply be treated as generic public knowledge.

For companies, one important opportunity is using AI to organize, clean, process, and analyze large quantities of data. Better use of existing data could help engineers identify trends and potentially shorten development cycles.

For tribologists, this could mean spending less time on repetitive data-processing tasks and more time on interpretation, experimentation, problem-solving, and engineering decisions.

The Future of Industrial Tribology

The “Tribology in Industry” webinar offered a broad look at how tribology supports modern engineering, from lubricant additives and DLC coatings to automotive drivetrains, heavy-duty engines, EVs, industrial bearings, wind turbines, refurbishment, and sustainable materials.

Perhaps the most important takeaway is that successful tribology requires more than achieving low friction or low wear in a laboratory test. Engineers need to understand why a material, lubricant, additive, or surface behaves as it does—and whether that behavior translates to the actual application.

As Dr. Mistry’s examples demonstrated, the same lubricant additive can behave differently on different surfaces. A grease that performs well in one laboratory test may not necessarily be the best choice in the field. A thicker lubricant film is not automatically equivalent to better application performance. And a damaged bearing may not always need to be discarded if appropriate refurbishment can restore its functionality.

Ultimately, industrial tribology is about connecting these individual pieces into one system: surface, material, lubricant, contact mechanics, operating conditions, testing, data, and application performance.

As machines become more efficient, electrified, connected, and sustainable, that systems-level approach will become increasingly important. Tribologists will continue to play a key role—not only in reducing friction and wear, but also in improving reliability, extending component life, reducing energy consumption, and enabling the next generation of engineering technologies.