Editorial

Citation

Taylor, J. (2001), "Editorial", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 53 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2001.01853eaa.001

Editorial

In this issue of Industrial Lubrication and Tribology we are very pleased to be able to present five very interesting papers covering different topics. It seems likely that all five will provoke thoughts and ideas amongst those working in similar areas of research.

Diamond like carbon coating and electro-less plating are two surface treatments used in a variety of applications. In this issue Etsuo Marui and Hiroki Endo of Gifu University in Japan report on their work in examining the frictional characteristics of these treatments

Researchers at the University of Sakarya in Turkey describe some changes they observed in wear rates when the sintering temperature of the ceramic material alumina was varied. They were able to show a relationship between these two parameters and also highlight changes to wear rates when different compounds were added to the basic ceramic material.

Dr Pandazaras of the University of Thessaly in Greece compares the results of using different mathematical models to predict the operational characteristics of journal bearing systems.

Sinha et al. study the non-linear solution of Reynolds equation for thermo-elastohydrodynamic analysis of thrust pad bearing and Wang Dong and colleagues from the Huazhong University of Science & Technology in PR China report on their work in developing a seawater hydraulic piston pump. The use of water as a hydraulic medium is likely to increase in the future due to safety and environmental pressures. As is pointed out in the paper it is really only in the last 80 or 90 years that mineral oils have been the conventional fluid used in place of the water used in previous centuries. In recent years much emphasis has been given to adapting mineral oil pumps for use with high water content fluids. Wang Dong's work illustrates the results in designing a pump to operate with seawater but with the increases in performance usually associated with other hydralic fluids.

We also briefly report on the UK Government's initiative to increase the awareness of biotechnology within the lubricant industry. Certainly it does seem that this area of technology has a role to play in reducing the problem of oil-based waste products. Your editor is very interested to learn about any similar developments in other parts of the world and would be especially interested to hear from those researching in this area.

In a similar vein it will be interesting to hear from different parts of the world on the subject of micro-pitting and comments on how this is viewed as the starting point for different types of failures in the field.

We look forward to hearing from you!

John Taylor