Aug. 13th, 2015

Friction and wear consume 2 to 6 percent of an industrialized nation’s GDP. In the United States, that amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

New breakthroughs in the science of tribology—which deals with friction, wear and lubrication—could go a long way toward reducing wear and, ultimately, waste.
Brandon Krick, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) and his collaborators at DuPont Inc. recently received a three-year grant to study tribology through the National Science Foundation’s Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program.
The Lehigh-DuPont team will develop and study ultralow-wear composite materials suitable for manufacturability and usage in commercial and industrial settings. Krick will serve as principal investigator on the project, with DuPont scientists Christopher Junk and Gregory Blackman serving as co-principal investigators and Lehigh graduate student Mark Sidebottom leading the experimental efforts.
"We are exploring how various material structures, composition, processing and operating conditions impact tribological performance," Krick reports. "We'll also gain a much more complete understanding of the mechanical and chemical processes involved in wearing down materials we're developing."
In simple terms, the researchers are studying Teflon, the fluoropolymer coating for cookware.

Teflon is cherished by consumers because it is non-adhesive and easy to clean, Krick notes, but its relatively rapid rate of wear makes it unsuitable for sliding applications and impossible to be injection-molded into desired shapes.
To overcome these limitations, Krick’s group is making nanocomposites of alumina and dispersing them as filler in the Teflon polymer matrix to modify the matrix and reduce its melting temperature.
He adds: “We have been able to reduce the wear rate for Teflon by 10,000 times for sliding applications. This is potentially game-changing. Typically, industry has to replace worn-out parts too often. They end up in landfills. We can cut costs and reduce this waste.”
In the Lehigh Tribology Lab, Krick’s students examine the origins of friction, wear, materials deformation and adhesion on complex surfaces ranging from cells to nanocomposites and in environments ranging from the vacuum conditions of outer space to thousands of feet under water.
Krick and his colleagues at DuPont have been partners fighting wear for several years. DuPont supported much of Krick's work as a student and researcher at the University of Florida, and the relationship has carried over into his activities at Lehigh. "DuPont is one of the world's premier industrial scientific communities," says Krick. "Working with the DuPont team has been one of the most productive and rewarding collaborations of my life."