Development Trends in Surface Engineering Modification for Improving Tribological Properties of Alloys and Composite Polymer Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Surface engineering is one of the most promising areas of materials science due to its ability to develop high-performance surface coatings, films, or surface textures for various applications. These applications include automotive, electronics, manufacturing, gas turbines, biomedical, and aerospace components. Various methods have been applied to produce modified surface coatings and functional films, including physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD), thermal–chemical treatment (TCT), thermal-sprayed coatings by high-velocity oxygen flame (HVOF) or plasma-sprayed modification, and surface cladding using electron beam or laser processing techniques. Among these surface engineering methods, electron beam and laser processing techniques are commonly used for local surface modification of metals and alloys. These methods rapidly transfer a large amount of energy to the surface layer, causing ultrafast heating, melting, evaporation, and subsequent solidification. These effects provide improved tribological properties via heat treatment or thermal-chemical treatment. These effective methods have been integrated with other surface engineering techniques, such as diamond-like films, nitriding treatment, and multicomponent boriding treatments. These coatings can improve engineering applications, such as self-healing, self-cleaning, anticorrosion, photocatalytic activity, corrosion resistance, and electrical conductivity improvement.

Besides metal alloys for engineering applications, surface coatings can be fabricated by a substantial number of commonly applied polymers and composites, including epoxy, polyurethane, polyethylene, and nanocomposites because of their flexibility and durability. These materials can be improved with carbon nanoparticles to enhance their mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and self-healing properties.

This Special Issue explores the impact of modified alloys and composites or polymer materials, obtained via surface engineering, on advanced engineering technologies for friction and wear control. This Special Issue focuses on the current development and future trends in surface engineering techniques to achieve superior tribological performance in a variety of tribo-systems. Specifically, this work addresses the impact of these emerging technologies on future engineering performance requirements using novel surface coatings or texture materials. The connection between surface engineering and tribological performance requirements will be illustrated by describing the surface engineering processes incorporating the emerging surface modification technologies.

For this Special Issue, we invite high-quality papers that focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Tribology applications of surface coatings and surface textured materials;
• High-performance coatings using laser treatment, self-healing, plasma technologies;
• Nano-structuring processes for manufacturing applications;
• Adaptive nanocomposite coatings;
• Surface engineering applications for automotive engine components;
• Surface engineering applications for electronic processes;
• Surface engineering applications for manufacturing processes;
• Surface engineering applications for gas turbines or propulsion components;
• Surface engineering applications for biomedical applications;
• Surface engineering applications for aerospace applications;
• Surface engineering applications for drive train or bearing components;
•  Emerging surface engineering development trends, including smart surface coatings and functionalized and multifunctional engineering materials.

Dr. Undrakh L. Mishigdorzhiyn
Dr. George E. Totten
Dr. Simon C. Tung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• surface modification
• plasma modification
• laser treatment
• electron beam processing
• alloys
• polymers
• coatings
• thin films
• tribo-systems
• bearings
• diffusion layers