Materials for Tribology

Book excerpt: This handbook provides an extensive reference source on the materials used in tribological applications. Materials used in tribological applications are, for the most part, common materials used for general engineering applications. Many conventional engineering materials have been adapted to tribological uses and examples of these are given throughout the text. Literature that so far has been scattered and difficult to retrieve is now presented for the first time in this comprehensive treatise. The author has used his expertise in selecting materials for a wide variety of friction and wear applications to develop this data base on materials for tribology. In addition information has been selected from the literature on the behaviour of these materials in bearings, seals, gears, brakes, clutches, wire rope, valves, cams and wear surfaces and is included in the descriptive text. The materials have been grouped in families, relating to their composition. A short table is provided at the beginning of each chapter, listing the ranges of selected properties for the materials under discussion. In addition there are short summaries of the tribological applications this class of materials is used for. On the first page of each chapter one can find a guide for the selection of materials. Sufficient references to the literature are given to enable the reader to follow up in more detail the various topics discussed.