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Lubricants
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Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology, 3rd Edition
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Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology, 3rd Edition

A special issue of Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2027 | Viewed by 765

Editors

Prof. Dr. Zhenpeng He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Aeronautical Engineering, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, China
Interests: mechanical tribology; structural dynamics; rotor nonlinear dynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: tribology; lubrication; friction and wear; rotor nonlinear dynamics; surface
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to inform you that, after the successful launch of the first and second editions of the Special Issue on "Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology", the third edition is now open for submissions.

As critical industrial technologies, mechanical friction and surface technologies have been widely applied in many fields. Not only do they have a significant impact on the performance and quality of materials, but they also have profound effects on the environment and ecology. Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on the latest research results regarding the cutting-edge technologies in these fields, providing insights to readers and promoting the progress of industrial technology.

This Special Issue will focus on three primary research topics, namely, lubrication and sealing technology, tribology research, and surface technology, all of which include the consideration of lubrication mechanisms, lubrication cavities, sealing mechanisms, lubrication performance evaluation, sealing performance evaluation, friction failure, friction wear, friction pair optimization design, friction testing, contact modeling, surface micromachining, surface modification, surface textures, surface coating, roughness modeling, and other key technologies. We welcome submissions of all kinds, and we believe that your research findings and technological applications will ensure that the content of this Special Issue is as exciting as possible. We will do our best to provide you with the highest quality editing and publishing services, helping your research results to be disseminated more widely.

We hope to collaborate with other like-minded researchers to promote the development of mechanical friction and surface technology and contribute to the progress of human society.

Prof. Dr. Zhenpeng He
Dr. Hao Zhang
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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

  • lubrication and sealing technology
  • tribology research
  • surface technology
  • roughness modeling
  • surface texture

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Related Special Issues

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3266 KB  
Article
Analysis of Deformation, Blow-Out Mechanism, and Leakage Behavior of Brush Seals Under Distributed Pressure Loading
by Syed Muntazir Mehdi, Jae-Hyung Kim and Young Cheol Kim
Lubricants 2026, 14(8), 321; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080321 - 20 Aug 2026
Viewed by 84
Abstract
Brush seals using compliant bristle packs can reduce turbomachinery leakage more effectively than conventional labyrinth seals, but their coupled structural and flow behavior makes design difficult. Under large pressure loading, bristles can deflect, lose contact with the rotor, and generate clearance, causing the [...] Read more.
Brush seals using compliant bristle packs can reduce turbomachinery leakage more effectively than conventional labyrinth seals, but their coupled structural and flow behavior makes design difficult. Under large pressure loading, bristles can deflect, lose contact with the rotor, and generate clearance, causing the sharp leakage increase known as blow-out. This study develops a model linking nonlinear bristle deflection, rotor–bristle contact loss, and leakage response. The bristle is treated as an inextensible nonlinear elastic member subjected to distributed pressure loading, backing-plate support, and frictional rotor contact. Contact and separated states are solved iteratively using boundary-value and initial-value solvers. Leakage through the bristle pack is calculated using a random bristle-bed formulation, and leakage through generated clearance is evaluated with an orifice-flow model. The model agrees well with published bristle-deflection predictions. Increasing pressure load reduces normal contact force until lift-off occurs, producing clearance and a sharp rise in leakage. Increasing front-plate free height shifted lift-off from pressure ratio ≈4 to ≈2, while clearance flow contributed up to 36.5% after lift-off. Brush-seal blowout is therefore governed by the transition from rotor–bristle contact to separation. Lower back-plate height can delay blow-out, but hysteresis and durability tradeoffs must be considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology, 3rd Edition)
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27 pages, 24549 KB  
Article
Synergistic Optimization of Compliant Foil Seals: Variable-Thickness Design and Surface Micro-Textures
by Junze Qian, Bowen Zhang, Yuhang Dai, Yuhang Guo, Shijun Zhao, Xiang Li, Qingda Zhu, Meng Zhao and Zhenpeng He
Lubricants 2026, 14(8), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080296 - 30 Jul 2026
Viewed by 238
Abstract
As an advanced non-contact dynamic sealing technology, compliant foil seals offer notable advantages, including a simple structure, light weight, ease of installation, and strong self-adaptability. However, in most designs, the foil stiffness is uniform, resulting in a substantial increase in gas leakage under [...] Read more.
As an advanced non-contact dynamic sealing technology, compliant foil seals offer notable advantages, including a simple structure, light weight, ease of installation, and strong self-adaptability. However, in most designs, the foil stiffness is uniform, resulting in a substantial increase in gas leakage under high inlet pressures. Considering the distinct pressure conditions in compliant foil seals, a variable foil thickness model (VTM) along the axial direction is designed to match the pressure gradient from the inlet to the outlet. By aligning the foil thickness variation with the pressure gradient, the foil deformation is more uniformly distributed axially, thereby maintaining low leakage under high-pressure differentials. In this study, the gas film thickness equation and the Reynolds equation for the compliant foil seal are established and solved using the finite difference method combined with a point-wise iterative approach. First, the static characteristics of a traditional uniform-stiffness compliant foil seal under different rotational speeds and inlet pressures are analyzed. The results indicate that leakage increases substantially under high inlet pressure. The performance of the VTM under different operating conditions—including rotational speed and inlet pressure—is investigated. The results show that an appropriately designed VTM can maintain very low leakage under high-parameter conditions, albeit with some sacrifice in gas film pressure and an increase in viscous friction. Furthermore, surface micro-textures are integrated with the VTM. The study finds that the two approaches exhibit complementary effects: micro-textures enhance the dynamic pressure effect of VTM, while the variable-thickness design maintains extremely low leakage. The combined model demonstrates excellent performance across different speeds and inlet pressures. For instance, at a rotational speed of 30,000 r/min, the gas leakage is reduced by 50.04%, and the maximum gas film pressure is increased by 70%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology, 3rd Edition)
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26 pages, 3738 KB  
Article
Hybrid Deterministic–Microlevel Model of Normal Contact Stiffness for Textured Surfaces
by Kirill A. Bashmur and Alexander V. Zagulyaev
Lubricants 2026, 14(8), 289; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080289 - 27 Jul 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 245
Abstract
Normal contact stiffness of textured interfaces is controlled by the load-bearing contribution of deterministic texture and by the nonlinear response of rough load-bearing regions. This study formulates a hybrid deterministic–microlevel model that couples regular relief patterns—including dimples, grooves, periodic ribs and scraped high [...] Read more.
Normal contact stiffness of textured interfaces is controlled by the load-bearing contribution of deterministic texture and by the nonlinear response of rough load-bearing regions. This study formulates a hybrid deterministic–microlevel model that couples regular relief patterns—including dimples, grooves, periodic ribs and scraped high points—with a micromechanical representation of plateau roughness. Depending on texture topology and scale hierarchy, the microlevel response is represented either by a Greenwood–Williamson (GW) statistical contact model with a smooth elastic–plastic (EP) transition or by a fractal contact model. The deterministic level accounts for open-area fraction, texture depth and load redistribution, and it includes a finite-gauge spectral correction for periodic ribs and grooves to account for the finite measurement window. In a metallic dimple benchmark, the hybrid deterministic-texture/GW–EP formulation yields a mean relative error of 16.3% across all data points in the two selected textured series. In a saturated square-wave benchmark, the finite-gauge spectral correction yields a mean relative error of 10.37% for the independent patterned points. A compliance-based topology criterion is then established to determine, from open-area fraction, element depth, applied load and the ratio between texture period and plateau-roughness spacing, whether stiffness is governed primarily by deterministic texture, by micro-roughness or by their coupled response. The resulting formulation supports early-stage design exploration without requiring a full three-dimensional contact calculation at every parameter point. Independent periodic three-dimensional checks for circular-dimple cells showed that the finest FE solution agreed with the spectral prediction of the deterministic normal approach within 1.2%; the correction estimated by direct unilateral BEM changed total stiffness by no more than approximately 5% in the tested texture-influenced case. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Tribology and Surface Technology, 3rd Edition)
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