Tribology and Wear Protection
Division 9.5
In the Tribology and Wear Protection division, we investigate technological and process innovations relating to friction and wear. Thus, we contribute to socially and macroeconomically relevant topics such as resource, energy and material efficiency. Additional aspects are environment protection and sustainability by investigating ecotoxicologically acceptable fuels and lubricants (biofuels and biolubes) – including those based on renewable raw materials. With our tests in hydrogen and natural gas environment we contribute to the safety of components in future transportation and energy supply systems.
Testing prerequisites as well as material- and lubrication-related solutions needed to achieve these goals are established in cooperation with national and international partners to further technological development. This is because human toxicological and ecotoxicological regulations with Europe- or worldwide validity necessitate the provision of a growing number of substitutes or new solutions for well-established, high-performance materials, coatings and lubricants.
The findings of our research are applied to international standardisation and are provided in tribological databases.
-
Fields of expertise
- Determination of friction and wear characteristics for material pairs, thin coatings, lubricants and additives
- Testing under extreme operating conditions (extreme contact stress, low and high temperatures, hot steam, fretting, hydrogen and methane also as cryogenic liquefied gases)
- Development of novel tribometric methods from micro to macroscales, including engineering of devices, international standardisation and reference materials for these
- Study of tribologically related failure and damage
-
Main activities
- Testing under extreme operating conditions (extreme low & high temperatures, small to highest Hertzian contact stresses, vacuum, hot steam, and reactive environments)
- All material categories (steels, polymers, ceramics, hard metals), thermo-chemical treatments and thin coatings as well as solid lubricants
- “Zero” wear together with quantification and tribological analysis at asperity scale
- Design and construction of tribological testing apparatus
- Tribological databases and archiving systems
- Partner in the project i-TRIBOMAT - Intelligent Open Test Bed for Materials - Tribological Characterisation Services
-
Range of services/technical equipment
Laboratory with safety equipment for reactive substances (hydrogen, natural gas) and cryogenic liquefied gases
More than 20 tribometers for dry and lubricated conditions at:
- Extreme low temperatures down to a minimum of 269 °C
- High temperatures up to a maximum of 1,000 °C or 1,420 °C
- Oscillating sliding movements (0.1 Hz to 5,000 Hz or 40 kHz)
- Slip-rolling resistance at contact pressures up to 4,200 MPa
- Vacuum and hot steam environment
List of tribometers (not accessible) [PDF, 81 KB]
Tribometes for sliding and slip-rolling (not accessible) [PDF, 920 KB]
Tribometers for reciprocating wear and fretting (not accessible) [PDF, 2 MB]
Tribometers for cryogenic and vacuum applications (not accessible) [PDF, 867 KB]
BAM division Tribology and Wear Protection (not accessible) [PDF, 139 KB] -
Publications of the division
In the database PUBLICA you will find publications.
-
Dr.-Ing. Kai Hilgenberg
