Dear Colleagues,

Multifunctional, multiscale and tailor-made thermoplastic polymer composites, to be used in extreme tribological conditions, are gaining tremendous attention in replacing both metallic components and thermosets in modern engineering. Over the last 20 years, the number of publications in science and engineering with a focus on polymeric composites for different applications has increased ten-fold.

The driving force for the introduction of high-performance thermoplastic polymeric composites in industries is based on increasing research and development and maintenance activities in this area.

The rising global population, aging society, environmental regulations and awareness, increase the need and demand for energy production from renewable sources, reducing the weight of the components, saving energy, oil free bearings, and machinery are some of the important factors driving researchers in all fields in developing more complex multifunctional thermoplastic composites, which can perform under extreme tribological conditions.

High-performance multiscale self-lubricating thermoplastic composites are those designed and manufactured specifically for challenging environments. Extreme conditions cover a wide variety of environments, from the human body to space engineering, though the focus here will be on the design and development of materials to improve machinery/components’ friction, wear and lubrication in extreme/challenging conditions (including temperature, environments and tribological conditions). Thermoplastics have clear advantages, which have been noticed more recently by both researchers and industries. The tribological parameters (friction, wear and lubricants) affect the efficiency and life-time of components and machines, and therefore have a significant impact on sustainability, and increase of the service life and environments.

This Special Issue will focus on the current research and future trends in friction, wear and lubricant (dry condition and/or oil-free lubrication) of multifunctional and multiscale high performance self-lubricating thermoplastic composites in life science, automotive, space engineering, wind turbine, and hydropower applications.

Prof. Nazanin Emami
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Lubricants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Thermoplastics
• Polymer composites
• Self-lubricating/solid lubrication
• Lubricant additives
• Water lubricant
• Coating
• Friction
• Wear
• Oil-free lubricants
• Extreme condition