Paper 2: Education in Lubrication and Wear and Its Conceptual Integration into Machine Design

The paper points out why the rationalization of education in lubrication and wear, through its conceptual integration in machine design, is indispensable for the future development of machinery and, therefore, for that of national economies.

The paper is mainly devoted to outlining a philosophy of approach in education, based on broad unifying principles and concepts that are tangible to those having to apply them, i.e. the designers of machinery. By means of this philosophy one may achieve the conceptual integration of education in lubrication and wear into machine design. The philosophy also meets the demand for organizing the bewildering store of present-day knowledge on lubrication and wear, both of a fundamental and an empirical nature.

The ensuing classification of the various states of lubrication and the types of mechanical wear rests mainly on the distinction between ‘conformal’ and ‘counterformal’ rubbing surfaces. This distinction runs broadly parallel to, amongst other things, the nature of contact, the potentialities for achieving full fluid-film lubrication, and the flash temperatures obtaining.

The unifying principle most typical of the field of lubrication and wear is that of contact inhibition, which reflects itself in the design principle of the protective layer. Much importance is attached also to principles that are not specific to lubrication and wear, but are generally applicable to the design of machinery. Such principles are exemplified by that of the optimal grouping of functions to be fulfilled and by the even more universal principle of the so-called ‘comparison of scales’.

Last but not least, the present philosophy of unified approach may well lend itself, at least in essence, to rationalizing education in the much wider field of mechanical engineering in general.