Tribological Properties of Soft Materials

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims at presenting Original Research Articles and Reviews on the Tribological Properties of Soft Materials. Soft materials, including different kinds of liquids, liquid dispersions, gels and greases, have found extensive tribological applications in the past decades. By generating a complicated interfacial “tribofilm” capable of providing either physical or tribochemical lubrication, soft materials can effectively reduce the friction and abrasion between the two contacting surfaces to a satisfactory level. Although a number of significant research advances concerning the tribological behavior of soft materials have been achieved, the design and preparation of high-performance and eco-friendly liquid and semi-solid lubricants, the homogenous mixture and dispersion of various additives in liquids and gels, the formation and composition of resultant tribofilms, the tribochemical mechanism of “soft” lubricants, and the in-time or in-space lubrication control remain challenging in this field. This Special Issue of Lubricants focuses on the latest progresses in friction and wear mechanisms, new methodologies for tribological and interfacial analyses and the development of new types of  liquids and semi-solid lubricants. The articles in this issue are applicable to any type of soft material used for tribological applications.

This Special Issue is dedicated to, but not limited to, Original Papers and Reviews regarding the following topics:

• Design and preparation of novel liquid and semi-solid lubricants;
• Tribological behavior and mechanisms of liquid and semi-solid lubricants;
• Smart control of the tribological properties of liquid and semi-solid lubricants;
• Methodology for analyzing the tribological properties.

Dr. Lu Xu
Dr. Xia Zhang
Dr. Baogang Wang
Guest Editors

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.

• soft materials
• tribological properties
• liquids and liquid dispersions
• gels and greases
• lubrication mechanisms
• tribochemical reactions
• lubrication control