Advanced Protective Composite Coatings and Films: Tribological Mechanisms and Applications
A special issue of Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 26
Special Issue Editor
Interests: coatings; surface engineering; tribology; advanced manufacturing; materials degradation; materials characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Wear is one of the three principal failure modes (wear, corrosion, fatigue) of engineering components, causing substantial national economic losses in engineering applications. Therefore, technologies such as coatings, surface strengthening, and high-energy beam remanufacturing are crucial for overcoming wear-related issues in modern industries. Functional protective coating technology offers low input and high yield, and is highly environmentally friendly, making it it an indispensable component bridging new surface remanufacturing technologies and industry, thereby generating enormous economic and social benefits. The tribological characteristics of functional coatings are not inherent properties; rather, they depend on the entire tribological system and are influenced by numerous factors, including preparation methods, substrates, interlayers design, working environments (temperature, humidity, loads, oxygen, irradiation, vacuum, etc.).
In recent years, researchers have conducted numerous experiments on coatings to better understand the fundamental principles of tribocoatings for reducing friction and providing lubrication. The key to the research lies in the preparation methods, tribological characteristics, coating functionality, and degradation mechanisms of the advanced friction-reducing and lubricating coatings. These aspects not only enhance the lubricating and friction-reducing performance of the coatings but also extend the service life of coated parts, thereby reducing economic losses caused by friction and wear.
This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in tribological coatings and provide researchers with a platform to publish their latest findings, reviews, methodologies, and engineering applications. Our goal is to advance the research landscape and tackle challenges related to wear reduction and lubrication in coatings. We welcome high-quality original research papers and reviews. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Preparation for tribological coatings (such as PVD, CVD, and high energy beam surface modification);
- Classification of tribological coatings;
- Microstructure, tribological behavior, and mechanical properties of friction-reducing and lubricating coatings;
- Lubrication mechanisms of tribological coatings;
- Wear mechanism of tribological coatings;
- Materials characteristics of tribological coatings;
- Functionality of tribological coatings (self-lubricating, self-adaptive, self-healing, self-organized);
- Application of tribological coatings.
We thank you for your interest and look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Huatang Cao
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.
Keywords
- coatings
- wear
- friction
- lubrication
- surface modification
- composites
- materials degradation
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