Advances in Boundary Lubrication

Dear Colleagues,

In machine elements, rough surface contacts are often not dry and are lubricated by thin boundary films. The surface roughness effect could be significantly reduced with advanced precision engineering. Hence, thin boundary lubricant films remain the last barrier preventing direct metal-to-metal interaction. Such interactions could lead to an undesirable drop in machine element efficiencies. In preventing this, the boundary lubrication performance can be enhanced by introducing suitable additives that could adsorb (either physically or chemically) onto the surface to form thin protective films. The additives often involve molecules with active boundary elements or nanoparticles that could impart solid lubrication at a molecular level. More importantly, the additives must be relevant to the application, which might require sulfur- or phosphorous-free lubrication. Thus, it is essential to elucidate the effect of boundary lubricant additivation and the mechanisms that give rise to boundary lubrication.

This Special Issue intends to share advances in the design/synthesis of additives, characterization, optimization, and other novel aspects in boundary lubrication. It covers studies involving the adoption of advanced and green materials and elucidating their boundary lubrication mechanisms. Both theoretical and experimental investigations are highly welcome.

Dr. William W. F. Chong
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.