Space Environment Effects on the Tribological Performance of Lubricants
A special issue of Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 September 2026 | Viewed by 99
Special Issue Editors
Interests: space tribology; composite lubricating materials; solid–liquid synergistic lubrication; failure mechanism
2. State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: liquid lubricant; nanomaterials additives
Interests: carbon nanomaterials; space environment adaptability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The challenging history of space exploration has shown that the space environment is one of the main factors affecting the normal operation of spacecraft in orbit. The space environment mainly includes high vacuum, strong irradiation, alternating temperature, microgravity, etc. The relentless pursuit of space exploration necessitates extreme reliability in moving mechanical assemblies, for which effective lubrication is paramount. In the vacuum environment of space, liquid lubricants and solid lubricating films are indispensable for ensuring the operational reliability of spacecraft mechanisms in the harsh space environment.
However, for space lubricating materials, little research has been performed to study the effects of the space environment on the tribological performance. In addition, the lubricating and failure mechanisms are rarely investigated comprehensively.
Dr. Jian Liu
Dr. Chaoyang Zhang
Dr. Yang Li
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- space tribology
- vacuum
- space irradiation
- alternating temperature
- surface engineering
- lubrication
- friction
- wear
- tribological mechanism
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