Editorial

Citation

(2004), "Editorial", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 56 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2004.01856baa.001

Editorial

In this issue, we are pleased to present five papers highlighting different areas of work of interest to our authors.

Doctors Sinanoglu, Kurban and Yildirim from the Erciyes University in Turkey report on their work on developing a neural network solution to the analysis of pressure variations in a bearing journal system. This work will be of general interest as it includes some very useful background comments on our overall understanding of journal bearing lubrication, bearing in mind recent work in the fields of surface roughness and misaligned bearings.

Dr Zhang of the Shanxi Institute of Technology in Taiyuan, People's Republic of China presents his work on EHL when film slippage occurs. He demonstrates that mixed rheologies exist and proposes a model for this type of EHL.

Workers at the Nanya Institute of Technology in Taiwan, Chi-Ren Hung, Long-Jin Liang, Tong-Bou Chang, and Jaw-ren Lin have been comparing different mathematical modelling techniques for assessing squeeze film characteristics. They have been looking at porous journal bearings as an example of a journal bearing and their conclusions will be of interest to many researchers.

Mark Stanford and Paul Lister at The University of Wolverhampton have been working on some very practical aspects of dry machining. This is clearly a major topic for researchers now and their paper certainly provides some very interesting conclusions. We look forward to seeing much more work being published, covering this important field.

Finally in this issue, we look at friction welding. Dr Sahin and Dr Akata from Trakya University in Turkey report on their work relating to the welding of different types of steel. This subject is an unusual area where the result required from the tribological activity is opposite to that usually required. A very interesting subject and we hope to return to in the near future.

Looking at the papers in this and recent issues, it seems that the academic world is concentrating on pure rather than applied science. Tribology and lubrication in general has always been one of those sciences where we know something works but are not sure why. Traditionally, the science has come after the adoption of a new technique or product. Are we in danger of going too far the other way and not trying new ideas in the real world? What do you think – if you have an opinion you would like to share with fellow tribologists then let the editor know. We would like to hear from you.