Editorial

Citation

Taylor, J. (2005), "Editorial", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 57 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2005.01857eaa.001

Editorial

In this issue we are pleased to present seven papers covering different aspects of the tribological field.We have the first in a series of papers from Y. Zhang that will be featured in future issues of ILT. Y. Zhang is working at Shanxi Institute of Technology in People's Republic of China looking at some developments in basic tribology theories.Workers from Portugal have been looking at ways of predicting the behaviour of an increasingly important thermoplastic material.Other work being carried out in People's Republic of China is represented by the paper on the use of water vapour as a coolant and lubricant in the metal working process.Coatings are the basis of the other two papers. From Saudi Arabia we learn about TiN coating under bending conditions and from Germany how highly loaded bearings may be protected by polyimide coating.Our friends at Trakya University in Turkey have been looking at the variations in surface area of cylinders when they are upset. This work will be of special interest to those in other parts of the world who I know are looking at the distortions occurring in internal combustion engines as cylinder heads are tightened on engine blocks.Although oil in water emulsions have been used for many years in steel rolling there are many aspects of this tribological mechanism that are not understood. Workers from New Delhi in India present some work on their studies in this area.It is very exciting to see the great variation in the types of research being carried out across the world in our subject.A full understanding of existing tribological systems must help us develop improved systems. Indeed new materials will mean that we constantly need to revisit the basic theories to see if they remain valid when applied to modern problem-solving.

John Taylor