Executive Summary
If the world is looking for a cause to bring all nations together, the lack of quality tribology education globally might a good place to start. That was the message delivered by TLT readers responding to this month’s Sounding Board survey. TLT heard from tribologists from Canada to Ecuador, from Germany to Nigeria, and the story was universal—little or no tribology education or training at virtually all levels of education. Despite claiming Auburn University, the only school nationwide to offer a tribology minor, the U.S. fared no better than other countries and received more than its share of criticism. “99% of people in the U.S. think tribology is the study of dinosaurs; they are clueless,” opined one STLE member. The survey’s numbers supported the anecdotal reports—only 18% of TLT readers, regardless of nationality, have taken a formal course in tribology.
Q.1. What is the current state of tribology education in your country and how could it be improved?
Canada. Very little except in the workforce. Universities have too much to cram into four years already, but perhaps a five-year specialist’s program.
Low. Almost any type of educational programs would help.
In Germany the tribology education of engineers differs from university to university. Sometimes tribology is just a side issue of machine components.
Turkey. Actually nothing—no networking for between related academics and no tribology-specific departments.
These are very interesting times for young tribologists. We need to train and pay the next generation appropriately.
U.S. We are not too bad, but there is definitely room for more education at the college level and even trade schools.
Is the U.S. tops?
It is 25% in Nigeria.
In the Netherlands we have three universities of technology where some tribology is present, but currently there is only one very active one: Twente University. This is the only university with a full-time chair in tribology and surface modifications. In addition, there is a full-time chair in fluid mechanics who also is teaching advanced tribology stuff, and there are three part-time professors from industry and some associate and assistant professors.
U.S. Deficient. In chemical curriculums there is not much attention paid to friction and wear or their molecular basis. Likewise, I’m not sure how common screening techniques correlate with real world. For most students this is not that relevant, so an online approach would magnify the benefit.
Trinidad & Tobago. Almost non-existent.
There are not enough courses or programs concentrating on tribology topics. The increasing demands of precision machining and other technological requirements call for the education of more tribology specialists.
South Africa. It does not get enough focus at tertiary level. Should be made a compulsory module for bachelor’s of science chemical and mechanical engineering degrees.
In Lithuania, tribology education is available only for graduate students or researchers.
South Africa. Outside of the universities, there are a few organizations that provide general courses on tribology.
In India the tribology education varies from mediocre to very good. It is mostly driven by the grease/oil manufacturing companies. So any tribology education/seminar is mixed with product promotion and paper presentation. Pure research is limited.
Restore tribology courses even if they are embedded in subjects such as safety and reliability. Australia.
In our country, tribology studies related to automotive components, bio-tribology of implants, surface coatings, etc., can be improved by surface-modification techniques.
Setting up the tribology department in the college or university level as the chemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering departments.
In the U.S. it is growing as many companies are understanding that correct lubrication is an asset to their bottom lines.
Some online courses, but they are not helping me to improve.
U.S. Good.
Specialized training for graduate students.
U.S. Subject matter is mostly overlooked in most standard mechanical engineering programs.
U.S. Lubrication education needs to be a course at the undergraduate level in college. STLE needs to take more action in getting lubrication education available at colleges as well as other venues (outside of STLE activities).
U.S. Many in sales have minimal training.
U.S. It is moderately promoted.
Canada. Very little. Some courses at the Universities of Waterloo and Toronto.
Not high. We don’t tend to focus on things of practical value in education.
In my country (Ecuador, South America) tribology education is really poor. I think it is highly important that we improve it. Influence of industries and companies could be important to obtain progress.
U.S. The company I work for includes ongoing training. We also attend training outside the company for such things as refrigeration and refining.
U.S. Poor. I know only Auburn University offers a tribology undergraduate degree.
U.S. Minimal.
UK. Generally good. Needs more interdisciplinary teaching, e.g., lubricant chemistry for mechanical engineers and vice versa.
I’m from the U.S., and I believe that most universities do not offer tribology as a course of study. All of my training came from on the job or from organizations like STLE, ILMA, NLGI, etc.
U.S. Needs to be more broadly spread across all industries.
In the Netherlands only one university is providing a master track dedicated to surface engineering and tribology. Student interest is generally low. Somehow the perception is that tribology is complex and not so interesting or relevant. It should start with changing the perception. Second, time is mostly spent on theoretical parts. I would opt for a better balance between theory and experiment by adding more practical exercises to the curriculum. This should already start in the bachelor phase to also increase the interest of the students.
99% of people in the U.S. think tribology is the study of dinosaurs; they are clueless. Very few understand what it is. Those that do seem to take it to extremes.
Does not exist (Ecuador).
In Western Canada tribology training is hard to get unless you are affiliated with a major oil marketer.
Sweden. Tribology courses are given at several major universities. There also is a joint national research in tribology for doctoral students.
OK. Not a lot of people know what it is and how it directly affects their lives. Not readily seen as an option for a career path. Start earlier. It is not really discussed at entry-level chemistry classes. I have a bachelor’s of science degree in professional geology. In my undergrad classes, I wasn’t exposed to tribology.
Latin America. Either regular or bad. STLE needs to turn toward Latin America and focus in the region, invest time and funds to develop short courses, seminars, congress, etc. I live in Bolivia.
Re-establish STLE. The organization is not credible.
There’s a small number of universities that specialize in some aspects of tribology (e.g., automotive engine wear, bearings, aerospace, medical, knee/hip replacements); however, very little is done regarding metal machining, metal forming, etc., regarding the tooling required to make those parts in the first place.
Tribology education in the U.S. is fragmented, but some areas are making progress by doing such things as offering new graduate majors in tribology. The range of tribology educational content varies widely in short courses (days to 1-2 weeks), college term-length courses and courses given by consultants to private companies. The shorter the course, the more likely it will have a bias either toward lubrication, materials, coatings, mechanical designs, contact mechanics or trouble shooting. Therefore, there is a wide diversity and unevenness in the type and depth of available courses. Students will be presented with potentially incomplete or biased views of the subject depending on the duration of the courses and the specific experience of the speakers. This is true especially in team-taught courses in which instructors may change from year to year.
Formal curriculum-based education within the U.S. is limited and focuses on select areas of study.
Canada. Not many courses that I have seen or found. Most of my learning has been through STLE avenues.
U.S. I believe it is and has been informative in the professional world; however, I am not sure of its application in academia or if there is a formal way to introduce it to the world of chemical engineers at the college level. Admittedly, it is not clear if higher education is incorporating lubrication technology.
It’s beginning to happen. Very focused on engineering, not chemistry.
Very labor intensive. Look at A.I. for better, more accurate analysis.
U.S. and the state of tribology is marginally acceptable.
UK. Introduce tribology to undergraduates.
During your university studies, did you take a specific course focusing on tribology?
Yes
18%
No
82%
Based on responses sent to 15,000 TLT readers.
Q.2. Machine learning is defined as the ability of artificial intelligence to learn from data without additional programming. How could that concept be applied to tribology?
Machine learning could be used to evaluate measurement data from tribological tests.
Actually, bearing manufacturers are into it. But surface hardness and stress online monitoring may contribute into power drives to set the thresholds for real-life conditions.
Directly tying AI to real-time lube analysis and operational data will perfect predictive programs.
It can be applied in the area of monitoring the wear rate, lubrication efficiency and frictional process in any mechanical machines.
It would be good to examine results of laboratory and bench simulations, e.g., engine oil approvals.
It can be applied through the parameters observed for various used oil analysis tests regarding limits for copper, silicon, etc., but based on OEM requirements for various machines and components.
The vast array of data available from past and present tribology studies is well-suited for AI applications.
Micro analysis inline and react to real-time data.
Collating data from trends in lubricant analysis from various applications would make it possible to predict possible failures.
Sensors for lubricant quality, torque, temperature, etc., would feed their recordings to AI processing, hoping that AI can predict onset of wear or other failures.
AI could be used to determine the remaining useful life of a mechanical system based on wear profiles and historical data on specific makes and models of machines and also to auto-diagnose condition monitoring data like oil analysis and vibration data.
In tribology we have to ensure that the optimum life of the lubricant is obtained to keep costs and environmental effects low. By closely monitoring the operating temperature, we can develop models that ensure more accurate quantity of refill and re-lube intervals for the grease/lubricating oils.
By using data acquisition, we can predict the current state of object. For example, wearable parts can be monitored by ML techniques, and we can optimize or predict the outcomes.
I am not sure we can utilize AI in tribology in the near future with tons of data. The development of a computer that powerful is the immediate problem.
Data from equipment in real time will have users be able to correct any problems with vibration, incorrect lubrication and others.
Determine acceptable operation and maintenance ranges, monitor machine operation parameters and trigger alert or corrective action when operation is out of acceptable range.
Condition monitoring; formulation improvement; non-lubricant solutions in design to reduce friction and wear.
Used oil analysis would be a good start.
Tribology is not a key area for this technology. It is overkill.
Artificial intelligence should include tribology training.
Ongoing reading by machines of temps, viscosity, pressures, etc.
Yes, it could but would put people out of jobs in tribology.
Depends on what we are looking to find. This will likely require additional hardware and might not be economically viable.
In industries with a high focus on uptime, reliability and energy consumption, the ability to analyze, interpret and apply data from many systems in a complex production environment.
The concept of mass loss in a material can be monitored.
Several ways from formulating to independent testing of all raw materials and finished products to surface technology.
Precisely controlling where and when oil or friction reduction treatment fluid can be applied.
Predictive maintenance, predicting complex tribo-system behavior by deriving black box friction and/or wear models from data, finding proper interaction potentials for molecular dynamics with the aim of modeling sliding interfaces, understand how extensive the tribo-system is by being able to correlate seemingly unimportant influences.
Lubrication analysis in real time. Oil analysis and condition monitoring seems a scam to suck money. When I take oil samples and there is water and drilling fluid in them, it would be good to know now and not in 45 days when the results are sent to corporate.
Used oil diagnosis.
This is predominantly used in oil analysis already and will be continued in other aspects of tribology.
Evaluating big data from tribology tests in literature.
Onboard analysis to change telemetry on the move.
AI-designed systems.
With proper programming, oil analysis and the recommendations and trends that follow could be performed by artificial intelligence.
More data needs to be captured.
This sounds good in principle, but I think it works better in some fields (manufacturing/machining/production engineering) than in others where the content is very broad and interdisciplinary. What works in one tribo-system may not necessarily work in the general case or for other tribo-systems that might superficially seem to be similar.
Courses online.
It seems that the understanding of lubrication concepts within a process have diminished as technological advancements have been made with the process. When something goes wrong, but the data shows everything is OK, no one understands how to correct the situation.
AI would be able to define the fluid’s type and condition, the application, the time in operation, the susceptibility factors, real-time vibration analysis, real-time particle analysis to provide recommended service intervals and to what extent.
First, industry needs to better understand AI’s value to their world and appreciate it potential. I am not sure if it is widely understood. In my world of consultancy, it has not come up with great regularity. Looking at other liquid technologies to see how AI is being used might help. Having universities promote its use in tribology would foster downstream greater use or testing in lubrication and metalworking fluids.
One would need a huge amount of data for machine learning. If there are instances where large amounts of good data can be obtained to predict friction and wear, that might work.
Oil analysis would be a good start.
Determine origin of wear material/metal, i.e., what component might be generating it, more specific metallurgy.
I am not sure. I learned the fundamentals of tribology by running friction and wear testers.
How much potential do you think online courses can have on exposing people to the fundamentals, challenges and impact of tribology?
Great potential
57%
Some potential
40%
Little potential
3%
Based on responses sent to 15,000 TLT readers.