Comprehensive Progress in Mixed Lubrication

Dear Colleagues,

In ideal designs, bulk lubrication films are established to separate tribological components. They can reduce friction, wear, and other surface failures, including micropitting and scuffing. However, demanding work conditions and cost, efficiency, and/or life requirements often confine us in the mixed lubrication regime, whose complexity is rooted in multidisciplinary, multiscale, and multi-body interactions. Although the studies of mixed lubrication have been continued for more than half a century, it is still challenging to enable systems involving mixed lubrication with satisfactory service life or to predict its performance and service life.

With the continuous efforts of tribologists all over the world, there is significant progress in mixed lubrication in theoretical, experimental, and practical areas. This Special Issue is intended to bring together the latest achievements, promote collaborations, and present readers with a comprehensive knowledge base.

All industries are in-scope, such as automobile, energy, aerospace, sealing, bioengineering (e.g., artificial joints) industries. Manuscripts on the following example topics, but not limited to, are welcome:

• Experimental study with advanced technologies to measure film thickness of mixed lubrication or of boundary film due to additives, as well as to measure temperature, wear, and conditions leading to scuffing;
• Experimental investigation about micro- or nano-scale systems to gain insights of friction and wear;
• Development of lubricants, surface texturing, or materials with advanced surface properties to better endure mixed lubrication;
• Deterministic or scholastic modeling of lubricant flows/film distributions considering micrometer or nanometer features. It should be noted that around solid-contact sub-regions, films are so thin that continuum mechanics may need modification;
• Molecular dynamic simulations to understand interactions occurring over surfaces, including chemical reactions;
• Inovative applications of new technologies such as deep learning/neural network;
• Case studies based on components’ endurance in mixed lubrication from validation testing or field;
• Studies of failure mechanism under mixed lubrication condition.

It is my hope that with your involvement and contributions, a preliminary theory addressing foundamental aspects of mixed lubrication can emerge through collaboration and innovation, taking advantage of new technology within the coming decade.

Prof. Dr. Jordan (Shuangbiao) Liu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Lubricants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• lubrication
• mixed lubrication
• friction
• wear
• micro-pitting
• film-thickness measurement
• scuffing
• simulation
• additives
• tribo-chemistry